Vehicle-to-everything (V2X), vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) and vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) policy for managing distracted driving

ABSTRACT

Disclosed are a system and method of regulating access to devices that can distract a driver that is operating a motor vehicle based on received Vehicle-to-Everything communications including Vehicle-to-Vehicle and Vehicle-to-Infrastructure information. One example method may include determining a vehicle is approaching a vehicle movement restriction location requiring a vehicle movement restriction, determining an amount of time associated with the vehicle movement restriction, and determining whether a device located inside the vehicle will be made accessible to a user during the vehicle movement restriction based on the amount of time associated with the vehicle movement restriction.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present patent application is related to U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 14/188,970, entitled “CONTROLLING MOBILE DEVICE CALLS, TEXTMESSAGES AND DATA USAGE WHILE OPERATING A MOTOR VEHICLE”, filed on Feb.25, 2015, issued as U.S. Pat. No. 9,439,133 on Sep. 6, 2016, which is acontinuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/096,827, entitled“CONTROLLING MOBILE DEVICE CALLS, TEXT MESSAGES AND DATA USAGE WHILEOPERATING A MOTOR VEHICLE”, filed on Apr. 28, 2011, issued as U.S. Pat.No. 8,666,382 on Mar. 4, 2014 which is related to and claims the benefitof U.S. provisional patent application 61/328,689 entitled “System andmethod for controlling mobile telephone calls, text messages and mobiledata while driving a motor vehicle”, filed on Apr. 28, 2010, the entirecontents of each are hereby incorporated by reference.

TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to a method and apparatus of controlling devicesaccessible by a driver while operating a motor vehicle, and, morespecifically, to monitoring and controlling usage restrictions while themotor vehicle is being operated.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Operating an in-vehicle or mobile device while driving can distract thedriver of a motor vehicle (i.e. transport vehicle). An in-vehicle orvehicle device may include an ‘infotainment’ screen (frontdriver-accessible or driver-visible), or for rear passengers (non-driveraccessible or driver-visible or other designations) that could be usedfor controlling audio and visual entertainment, such as a radio, videoor navigation or a control system for climate, and other vehiclefeatures or also a heads-up display (HUD), which may provide informationprojected onto the driver windshield that could include speed, engineand systems information, navigation and/or infotainment information. Amobile device may include any mobile device capable of establishingcommunications with a network, such as a cell phone, tablet computingdevice, laptop, smart phone, etc. Certain concerns have been raised torestrict drivers from using distracting devices while the vehicle is inmotion. One example of such restrictions may include local laws andordinances that have been imposed on drivers that make it illegal toutilize a mobile device while driving. Other laws simply limit the usageof distracting devices while traversing certain restricted areas (e.g.,a school zone).

In order to enforce such legal regulations related to mobile devices,local law enforcement must observe a driver committing an infraction andsubsequently impose a fine on the driver. Such a method of lawenforcement can be considered a passive method for controlling thedevice, since it is the driver's responsibility to restrict usage of themobile device. This can be a problem since the law cannot be easilyenforced, and thus the user will not stop using the mobile device whileoperating their motor vehicle.

Current methods for addressing these issues rely on device-basedsolutions, rather than network-based solutions. For example,device-based solutions are typically custom-designed for the deviceand/or the vehicle and are typically expensive to implement or requirethe use of a “smartphone”—a mobile telephone with an operating systemonto which third party software can be deployed, and which has access toa global positioning system (GPS) receiver as well as additionalwireless protocols such as BLUETOOTH and/or WIFI.

Examples of conventional vehicle tracking systems are used by deliverycompanies such as UPS® and FedEx®. In these systems, vehicles areequipped with proprietary mobile devices that must be placed in aproprietary docking station inside the vehicle in order for the vehicleto be placed in motion. When in motion, the devices impose limitationson their usage, such as preventing the driver from reading certaininformation screens while the vehicle is in motion to prevent driverdistractions originating from the mobile device.

Other examples may include solutions from third party vendors thatdeploy software on a specific smartphone mobile device, such as anAndroid®, Apple iPhone®, RIM Blackberry®, or Windows Mobile device, etc.In these examples, the software accesses the device-based GPS toidentify when the device is moving at a certain velocity (e.g. >5 mph),at which point the device restricts the use of text messages and orcalls from being accessed via the mobile device.

While both of these types of solutions are technically feasible, theyface significant hurdles to adoption, including cost, difficulty of use,and restrictions on which devices can be used (e.g., only certainsmartphones from certain carriers). Other concerns include identifyingwhen the user is actually in the vehicle and when the individual is incommand of the vehicle, and providing safeguards that prevent a userfrom circumventing the system.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

One embodiment of the present invention may include a method ofregulating mobile device communications while operating a motor vehicle.The method may include determining a speed event indicating that a speedof the motor vehicle has performed at least one of exceeded a firstthreshold above which mobile device usage restriction policies areinvoked and fallen below a second threshold allowing the mobile devicerestriction policies to be removed. The first threshold is equal to orgreater than the second threshold. The method may also includetransmitting the speed event to a remote edge gateway server locatedremotely from the motor vehicle, and storing the speed event in theremote edge gateway server.

Another example embodiment of the present invention may include a systemconfigured to regulate mobile device communications while operating amotor vehicle. The system may include an edge gateway server configuredto determine a policy associated with a speed event indicating that aspeed of the motor vehicle has performed at least one of exceeded afirst threshold above which mobile device usage restriction policies areinvoked and fallen below a second threshold allowing the mobile devicerestriction policies to be removed. The first threshold is equal to orgreater than the second threshold. The apparatus may also include atransmitter device configured to obtain and transmit the speed event toa remote edge gateway server located remotely from the motor vehicle,the remote edge gateways server comprising memory configured to storethe speed event in the remote edge gateway server.

According to yet another example embodiment, a vehicle may receive V2V(Vehicle to Vehicle) information and make determinations via aprocessing device associated with the vehicle. This method may includeat least one of receiving V2V information at a device disposed in avehicle in motion operated by a driver, and processing the V2Vinformation received with previously received V2V information. Themethod may also include determining the V2V information received hasexceeded a threshold based on a comparison between the received V2Vinformation and the previously received V2V information, and responsiveto determining the V2V information has exceeded the threshold, applyinga restriction policy on at least one user device located inside thevehicle. The new V2V information may indicate an increase in traffic,speed, etc., that the previously known V2V information did not indicate,which may cause a change in policy. The device is different from atleast one user device. For example, the device may be a vehicle deviceas part of the vehicle. The vehicle device may also be the same as theuser device.

In another example embodiment, a method may include at least one ofdetermining a vehicle is approaching a vehicle movement restrictionlocation requiring a vehicle movement restriction, such as a trafficlight or construction zone, and determining an amount of time associatedwith the vehicle movement restriction, and determining whether a devicelocated inside the vehicle will be made accessible to a user during thevehicle movement restriction based on the amount of time associated withthe vehicle movement restriction. A decision may be made based on knownparameters, known rules and applied logic to restrict the user deviceusage completely, partially and/or for a fixed period of time. Thetraffic restriction location may include a construction zone, a trafficlight, a school zone, a designated low speed environment and adesignated danger zone. The method may also include determining thevehicle is approaching the vehicle movement restriction location bydetermining a vehicle position via a global positioning system (GPS)location determination and/or a proximity between the traffic light andthe vehicle. The method may also provide determining the amount of timeis above a threshold amount of time, and responsive to determining theamount of time is above the threshold amount of time, providing limitedaccess to the user device, determining the amount of time is above athreshold amount of time, and responsive to determining the amount oftime is below the threshold amount of time, providing no access to theuser device. The limited access to the user device includes at least oneof a limited time window to receive and access communication messagesincluding at least one of e-mail messages, short message servicemessages, multimedia message service, social media, vehicle infotainmentor system and device application messages. The method may also includedetermining the vehicle movement restriction location comprises a knowndangerous condition, and responsive to identifying the known dangerouscondition, providing limited access to the device. The method may alsoinclude determining the vehicle movement restriction location comprisesa known dangerous condition, and responsive to identifying the knowndangerous condition, providing alert messages to the device.

Still yet another example embodiment may provide a method that includesat least one of determining a vehicle is moving on a roadway, receivingV2V information at a vehicle device, located inside the vehicle, from aplurality of other vehicles moving on at least one of the roadway and anadjacent roadway, determining a magnitude of traffic on at least one ofthe roadway and the adjacent roadway is exceeding a traffic threshold,and restricting a user device located inside the vehicle during thevehicle movement responsive to the magnitude of traffic exceeding thetraffic threshold.

Still another example embodiment may include a method that provides atleast one of determining a vehicle is moving on a roadway, receiving V2I(Vehicle to Infrastructure) information at a vehicle device, locatedinside the vehicle, determining a vehicle is approaching a vehiclemovement restriction location requiring a vehicle movement restriction,determining an estimated restriction time window associated with thevehicle movement restriction location comparing the estimatedrestriction time window to a plurality of restriction threshold levels,determining the restriction time window exceeds one of the restrictionthreshold levels and does not exceed one other of the restrictionthreshold levels, and partially restricting usage of a user devicelocated inside the vehicle for at least a portion of the restrictiontime window. The method may also include determining whether a driverprofile associated with the driver imposes additional restrictions, andwhen the driver profile imposes additional restrictions, furtherrestricting the partially restricted usage of the user device. Also, thefurther restricting the partially restricted usage of the user devicefurther includes restricting device usage to only one of multipledevices available to the user in the vehicle and restricting the usageto one or more predefined functions comprising navigation applications,emergency services notifications and emergency calling.

Still another example embodiment may include a method that includes atleast one of receiving V2V information at a vehicle device disposed in avehicle in motion operated by a driver, the V2V information is receivedfrom one or more of a plurality of other vehicles within a predefineddistance of the vehicle, processing the V2V information received,determining the V2V information received indicates a plurality of alertsassociated with the plurality of other vehicles, applying a restrictionpolicy to at least one user device located inside the vehicle based onthe plurality of alerts. The plurality of alerts include at least one ofa threshold amount of vehicle traffic identified by one or more of theplurality of other vehicles, a construction site identified by one ormore of the plurality of other vehicles, and an emergency conditionidentifying by one or more of the plurality of other vehicles.

Yet still a further example embodiment may include a method thatincludes receiving V2P information at a vehicle device disposed in avehicle in motion operated by a driver, wherein the V2P information isreceived from one or more of a plurality of pedestrian devices within apredefined distance of the vehicle, processing the V2P informationreceived, determining the V2P information received indicates an updatedpedestrian safety condition associated with the one or more of theplurality of pedestrians, and applying a restriction policy to at leastone user device located inside the vehicle based on the updatedpedestrian safety condition. The updated pedestrian safety condition mayinclude at least one of a recent pedestrian appearance, such as anon-vehicle based pedestrian that recently entered an intersectionassociated with the vehicle device position.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates an example network configuration, according toexample embodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 2 illustrates an example RDS sensor (RDSS) configuration, accordingto example embodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 3 illustrates an example femtozone network configuration, accordingto example embodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 4 illustrates a flow diagram of an example method according to anexample embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 illustrates an example network entity device configured to storeinstructions, software, and corresponding hardware for executing thesame, according to example embodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 6A illustrates a vehicle to infrastructure (V2I) networkconfiguration according to example embodiments.

FIG. 6B illustrates a vehicle to infrastructure (V2V) configurationaccording to example embodiments.

FIG. 6C illustrates an example of vehicle to pedestrian (V2P)communication between one or more pedestrians and one or more vehiclesaccording to example embodiments.

FIG. 7 illustrates a flow diagram of an example method of vehicle policymanagement for V2V configurations according to example embodiments.

FIG. 8 illustrates a flow diagram of an example method of vehicle policymanagement for V2I configurations according to example embodiments.

FIG. 9A illustrates an example method of operation using vehicleinformation according to example embodiments.

FIG. 9B illustrates another example method of operation using vehicleinformation according to example embodiments.

FIG. 9C illustrates another example method of operation using vehicleinformation according to example embodiments.

FIG. 9D illustrates another example method of operation using vehicleinformation according to example embodiments.

FIG. 9E illustrates another example method of operation using vehicleinformation according to example embodiments.

FIG. 9F illustrates still yet a further example method of operationusing vehicle information and/or pedestrian information according toexample embodiments.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE APPLICATION

It will be readily understood that the components of the presentinvention, as generally described and illustrated in the figures herein,may be arranged and designed in a wide variety of differentconfigurations. Thus, the following detailed description of theembodiments of a method, apparatus, and system, as represented in theattached figures, is not intended to limit the scope of the invention asclaimed, but is merely representative of selected embodiments of theinvention.

The features, structures, or characteristics of the invention describedthroughout this specification may be combined in any suitable manner inone or more embodiments. For example, the usage of the phrases “exampleembodiments”, “some embodiments”, or other similar language, throughoutthis specification refers to the fact that a particular feature,structure, or characteristic described in connection with the embodimentmay be included in at least one embodiment of the present invention.Thus, appearances of the phrases “example embodiments”, “in someembodiments”, “in other embodiments”, or other similar language,throughout this specification do not necessarily all refer to the samegroup of embodiments, and the described features, structures, orcharacteristics may be combined in any suitable manner in one or moreembodiments.

In addition, while the term “message” has been used in the descriptionof embodiments of the present invention, the invention may be applied tomany types of network data, such as, packet, frame, datagram, etc. Forpurposes of this invention, the term “message” also includes packet,frame, datagram, and any equivalents thereof. Furthermore, while certaintypes of messages and signaling are depicted in exemplary embodiments ofthe invention, the invention is not limited to a certain type ofmessage, and the invention is not limited to a certain type ofsignaling.

Example embodiments of the present invention may include a method tocontrol the use of a mobile device during the operation of a motorvehicle. The controlling may include limited access to dialing calls,transmitting and/or receiving text messages and/or transferring othermobile data while operating the motor vehicle. A motor vehicle may bereferred to synonymously with transport vehicle or transport means, suchas an automobile, motorcycle, truck, bus, boat, train, aircraft,all-terrain vehicle (ATV), etc.

According to other embodiments of the present invention, a method isdisclosed to enable an active responsible driver system (RDS) solutionto control mobile devices when a user has established certain predefinedcriteria, such as being in command of a vehicle in motion, and/ortraversing a specific area requiring usage restrictions.

FIG. 1 illustrates a mobile network and related communication systemcorresponding to example embodiments of the present invention. Referringto FIG. 1, an operating network area of a mobile device 10 isillustrated as being in communication with a mobile network 20 and anenterprise network 30. A mobile device 102 may have a subscription to amobile service on the mobile network 20 operated by a mobile telephonenetwork service provider and/or service carrier. The mobile device maybe a smartphone, cell phone, tablet computing device, or other devicecapable of communicating with a cellular infrastructure (i.e., basestation 101).

The mobile device 102 may maintain a subscription for service on themobile telephone network service provider's network 20. The subscriptionmay be provisioned and stored in memory in the carrier's home locationregister (HLR) 112 and/or a home subscriber server (HSS) 114. Suchsubscription information may include the subscription information forenabling mobile device calls to be originated and terminated, textmessages to be originated and terminated, and for mobile data to berequested and delivered.

To control the mobile device 102, the mobile subscriber's profile storedin the HLR 112/HSS 114 is activated accessed prior to, or when a callattempt or text message is originated or terminated with the mobiledevice 102. In the case of a call, the mobile switching center (MSC) 110or call session control function (i.e., interrogating—I, servicing—S,and proxy—P-CSCFs) 118-122, verify the subscriber profile from the HLRand/or HSS to determine the services of the subscriber. In an IPmultimedia system (IMS) network, the S-CSCF obtains the initial filtercriteria (IFC) information which may instruct the S-CSCF to query asession initiation protocol (SIP) application server (SIP-AS)represented by 116 before routing a session. Similarly, in acircuit-switched network, the MSC 110 obtains the trigger informationwhich may instruct the MSC 110 to query a service control point (SCP)represented by 116 before routing a call. The SCP or SIP-AS 116 may thenanalyze the origination and/or termination information and apply logicto instruct the MSC 110 or S-CSCF 120 on how to route the call, sessionor text message. The SCP or SIP-AS 116 can be split between two nodes,in this case the carrier gateway server 116 and the edge gateway server130 which may be located in an external network such as an enterprise.

A call that is originated from or terminated to the mobile device 102may have an alternative treatment applied based on a service condition.For example, a call may be allowed or disallowed or re-routed inresponse to the service condition. Similarly, the call may beintercepted by the system and stored in memory along with the intendeddestination if the vehicle is being operated by the user of the mobiledevice. A call may be augmented with a predefined indication or recordedmessage to alert the user of the service condition with or withoutprompting for acknowledgement and/or reason, but still allowing the callto be received. A call may be received and/or a call termination can bere-routed to voicemail or to a recorded message for the calling party(e.g., “the user is unavailable at this time”). A terminating textmessage can be stored for later delivery to the mobile device 102, anoriginating text message from the mobile device 102 can be preventedfrom being delivered, etc.

Mobile data transferred to or from the mobile device 102 may require amobile data gateway such as a gateway GPRS support node (GGSN) that isconnected to a carrier's serving GPRS support node (SGSN), oralternatively, a foreign agent (FA) that is connected to a carrier'sHome Agent (HA). For example, a mobile data request transferred from amobile device 102 can be prevented or delayed from being delivered to aserver.

A mobile data response can also be prevented or delayed from beingdelivered to the mobile device 102. The message may be blocked orintercepted by temporarily storing the message in memory and releasingthe message into the network once a predefined condition and/orrestriction has passed (e.g., a communication blocked location). Inother words, the message may be preserved or just re-routed untilcertain conditions have been satisfied. Similarly, a mobile data requestor response can be augmented with an indication or recorded message toalert the user of the condition with or without a prompting foracknowledgement and/or a reason, but still allow the message to proceed.

According to example embodiments of the present invention, a mobilenetwork may be configured with a gateway server (GS) that can act as aSCP, a SIP-AS and/or a GGSN. The GS is split into two functions, theGS-C 116 located in the carrier network 20 and the GS-E 130 located atthe edge of the network, such as in an enterprise or service controlnetwork (SCN) 30.

An enterprise may represent a corporation that desires to control themobile phones of their employees, such as UPS® or FedEx® controlling themobile phones of their drivers. In such a case, it is possible that theGS-E 130 is also connected to the enterprise voice communicationsnetworks including for example, a private branch exchange (PBX) 132coupled to a telephone device 134, and an IP-PBX and/or unifiedcommunications (UC) system. A media gateway (MGW) 124 and SBCs 126 and128 may provide a communication path to the enterprise network 30. Aswitched circuit network (SCN) may represent a hosted service providerthat offers a service to many small or large corporations forcontrolling the mobile phones of the corporation's employees. An SCN mayalso offer such a service to consumers or agencies, for example toenable parents to control the mobile phones of their children, schoolsto control the mobile devices of their bus drivers, or municipalities orgovernments to control the use of mobile phones of users that havereceived infractions for unsafe driving or for using a mobile phone in aschool zone.

In other configurations, the GS-E 130 can also be located in thecarrier's network 20, or be hosted by a third party in a multi-tenantmodel that offers the service to many individual enterprises and/orconsumers from a single GS-E 130. The GS-C 116 and GS-E 130 can also becombined into a single function allowing the policy and services of theGS-E 130 to be handled by the combined GS (GS-C 116 plus GS-E 130) node.

According to another example embodiment an on-board diagnostic (OBD)system may be used. OBD systems are in most automobiles today. TheOBD-II standard was introduced in the mid 1990's, and has been mandatedon all automobiles manufactured for sale in the United States since Jan.1, 1996. The same OBD-II or similar systems are used in most countriesaround the world.

All OBD-II automobiles have an OBD-II compliant connector located in thepassenger compartment that is easily accessible from the driver's seat.This port provides information about the vehicle's state, includingmalfunction indicators, diagnostic trouble codes and other vehicleinformation for self-diagnosis and reporting capabilities.

FIG. 2 illustrates an example OBD and RDS system, according to exampleembodiments of the present invention. Referring to FIG. 2, a motorvehicle 100 is configured with an OBD interface 108 that is illustratedin detail as being part of the dashboard. The OBD module 104 denoted asthe RDS sensor, or RDSS, plugs into the OBD-II connector 108 of thevehicle. The RDSS is capable of obtaining information from variousvehicle subsystems in order to identify when the vehicle is on, when thevehicle is in motion, and at what speed the vehicle is traveling.

The RDSS 104 itself may include a system of elements including an OBD-IIprocessor (not shown) for interfacing with the vehicle's OBD-II port 108via a variety of communication protocols. A corresponding wirelesscommunication system (not shown) may include a radio communicationssystem such as GSM, CDMA, LTE, WiMAX and/or WIFI, which may furtherinclude a SIM card 106 for communicating with a mobile network in thecase of a GSM mobile network. The system may also include a generalcomputing platform (not shown) for storing program logic for theoperation of the RDSS system. The RDSS 104 can be used to sendinformation to and from a server connected over the Internet via themobile data connection. Data messages may be transmitted via shortmessage service (SMS) text messaging, or via other communicationprotocols, such as unstructured supplementary services data (USSD), dataover voice (DOV) or Internet protocols such as TCP or UDP over mobiledata transport. The RDSS may be equipped with a location-determiningcapability, such as for example assisted GPS (A-GPS), which complieswith the U.S. F.C.C. wireless enhanced 911 phase-2 mandate for allmobile phones.

The RDSS 104 may have its own subscriber information module (SIM) card106, which is compatible with a GSM-based network, a CDMA-based networkor other mobile wireless network. In either case, the RDSS represents aseparate subscription to the carrier, and may be considered amachine-to-machine (M2M) subscription, which may cost less than a fullmobile services subscription for a mobile telephone user. The RDSSsubscription is associated with one or more subscribers provisioned inthe GS-E 130 that are configured to have their mobile servicescontrolled when they are operating a vehicle in which the RDSS isinstalled.

The RDSS may be built into automobiles by manufacturers, either asoptional equipment or included with all vehicles. The RDSS system isinformed when the vehicle is turned on. The RDSS 108 then sends a datanotification message to the GS-E 130 associated with the subscriber.This message can be sent over the Internet as a mobile data message, orvia SMS or USSD in the case that the RDSS is not capable or configuredto support mobile data service.

Note that the message can be sent directly to the GS-E 130, oralternatively, it can be sent to the GS-E 130 via the GS-C 116. In thelatter case, the RDSS can be preconfigured to send the message to theGS-C 116 in the carrier network 20, and the GS-C 116 then identifies thecorresponding GS-E 130 to which the subscriber belongs. In this example,all RDSSs can be pre-programmed to always route to the carrier's GS-C116.

On reception of the notification that the vehicle has been turned on,the GS-E 130 may then order the GS-C 116 to obtain the location of theRDSS 108 and the RDS mobile 102. To do this, the GS-C 116 can send arequest to the carrier's mobile location center (MLC), which will obtainthe location information for each device. The MLC may be part of the MSC110. On reception of the location information of the devices, the GS-E130 can then calculate the distance between the two devices to determineif the RDS subscriber 108 is actually located in the vehicle. Thedistance between the two devices must be less than a predeterminedamount to qualify that the RDS subscriber device 102 is within thevehicle. Typically, this would be within a maximum of 300 meters, incompliance with the worst case requirements for E-911 phase-II, but morelikely within 5-50 m range.

Note that situations may occur where the RDS subscriber 102 is locatedinside the vehicle when in fact they are standing outside the vehicleand someone else is driving the vehicle. This would result in the RDSsubscriber being subject to RDS policies until the vehicle is drivenaway and the locations are subsequently re-checked. To reduce and/oreliminate this case, once the vehicle has been determined to be inmotion, such that the vehicle has exceeded the hysteresis activationspeed (for example, the vehicle may be required to move above athreshold activation speed, such as 15 mph), then thelocation-determination procedure can be performed a second time. The MLCis again queried for the locations of the RDSS 108 and the RDS mobile102, and the GS-E 130 can then calculate the distanced between the twodevices. If the distance is greater than the previous locationdetermination, then it is likely that the user is not located inside thevehicle. If the distance remains to be less than a maximum of 300 metersapart, then it is likely the user is indeed located inside the vehicle.

Another situation that can occur is that the RDS subscriber 102 may be apassenger in the vehicle and as such is not the driver, but wouldnevertheless be subject to the RDS policies. In this case the RDS 108can be overridden to enable the RDS subscriber 102 that is not thedriver to be exempt from the RDS policies. Typical methods foroverriding the service may be a service code such as “*55” which wouldbe recognized by the GS-C 116 and GS-E 130 even if the RDS user is beingsubjected to the RDS policies. Similarly, a mobile data or text messagecould be sent to the GS-E 130 to override the RDS service.Alternatively, the subscriber 102 can be provided with a recordedmessage with a prompt for input on the voice channel to which they canrespond, which may also be achieved via a text message or mobile dataprompt. The response from the subscriber 102 can be stored in thenetwork as part of an event record which can be used as evidence orserve as input to a driver scoring algorithm.

In order to reduce the possibility of a driver attempting to overridethe system, the RDS 108 could require that the override code be sent bytwo different RDS subscribers, or even by one RDS and one non-RDSsubscriber. The second subscriber would typically be the person actuallydriving the vehicle. In another case, the second person could be adesignated administrator such as a parent or supervisor, located outsidethe vehicle. The RDS subscriber sends the override code to the GS-E 130,and on reception, the GS-E 130 sends a notification to the assignedadministrator to approve the RDS override.

The RDSS 108 is informed when the vehicle is in motion. The speed atwhich the RDS invokes the RDS restriction policies may be set by theadministrator of the service. Typically this would be at a speed of 5-15mph. A hysteresis algorithm can be utilized to prevent the system fromactivating and deactivating the RDS policies excessively when thevehicle is in stop-and-go traffic. Typically the hysteresis profile maybe set to activate the RDS policies when the vehicle equals or exceeds15 mph, and deactivates the RDS policies when the vehicle falls below 5mph.

When the RDSS 108 determines that the vehicle is in motion, for exampleby exceeding the hysteresis speed of 15 mph, the RDSS 108 then sends adata notification message to the GS-E 130 associated with the subscriber102. This message can be sent over the Internet as a mobile datamessage, or via SMS or USSD in the case that the RDSS is not capable orconfigured to support mobile data service. Note that the message can besent directly to the GS-E 130, or alternatively, it can be sent to theGS-E 130 via the GS-C 116. In the latter case, the RDSS 108 can bepreconfigured to send the message to the GS-C 116 in the carrier, andthe GS-C 116 then identifies the corresponding GS-E 130 to which thesubscriber belongs. In this case all RDSSs can be pre-programmed toalways route to the carrier's GS-C 116.

On reception of the notification that the vehicle is in motion, the GS-E130 then invokes the RDS 108 restriction policies for the RDS subscriberthat had been previously determined to be located in the vehicle and forwhich the RDS 108 had not received an override request. The RDSrestriction policies can be set to different support capabilities basedon a variety of conditions. For example, in its simplest form the RDSpolicy for a particular subscriber can be set to prevent all mobilecalls, texts or mobile data traffic to or from the mobile device 102.

Alternatively, the policies for a particular RDS subscriber 102 can beset to allow incoming calls and incoming texts, but not outgoing callsor outgoing texts while the vehicle is in motion. Another possibilitymay be to allow incoming texts or calls only if they are processed bythe hands-free BLUETOOTH enabled mobile phone service operated by thevehicle speaker and microphone system to ensure the user's hands arefree to drive and not operate the mobile device 102.

The RDS 108 can also invoke a different set of policies for RDSsubscribers 102 traveling in the vehicle but which are not the driver.For example, for these passengers the RDS policy can be set to enableincoming and outgoing texts but restrict incoming and outgoing calls, soas not to disturb the driver. In another example, calls to and from anRDS subscriber 102 can include an alert or voice message to indicate thevehicle is in motion, but still allow the call to route. In addition,the RDS subscriber can be presented with a prompting for input toconfirm acknowledgement and or a reason for electing to order the systemto proceed with the call, after which the system records the user'sselection and other call details and proceeds with routing the call.

According to another example, the system may provide the RDSS 108 isindependent of the mobile phone device 102 and the mobile network 10 andcarrier network 20. The RDSS 108 reports vehicle speed to the GS-E 130anytime the predefined thresholds are reached or crossed. When acall/text/data session is attempted to or from the mobile device 102,the switching network sends a request for action to the GS-C 116, whichresponds by sending an inquiry to the GS-E 130. As a result, the GS-E130 checks the last recorded speed event received from the RDSS 108 anduses that as input to determine the policy on how to route the session.The RDSS 108 itself is a system, which has a transmitter and aprocessor. The processor is used to assess the vehicle speed andorchestrate the transmission of the events via a transmitter to the edgegateway server. The RDSS 108 reports the vehicle events to the GS-E 130.

In the case where a user does not respond to the prompting, for examplein the case where they are incapacitated, the system may proceed toroute the call and either record or ignore the call details. An allowedlist of callers can be setup that overrides the RDS policies, such as toalways enable calls or text messages to/from an administrator such as aparent or supervisor, even while the vehicle is in motion. Emergencycalls such as to 911 or other emergency services will always overridethe RDS policies.

Note that if the RDSS 108 and/or RDSS subscriber's mobile device 102 arelocated in an area where the service coverage from the mobile network isinsufficient to deliver the messages, then it may not be possible forthe RDSS to function. However, in such a case it will be equallyimpossible for the RDS subscriber 102 to utilize the mobile network tomake or receive calls and/or send/receive data messages. Once thevehicle is in motion and it has been determined that the RDS subscriber102 is in the vehicle, the RDS policies are invoked by the GS-E 130.

In the case of a call origination, whenever a RDS subscriber originatesa mobile telephone call or session, the MSC 110 or CSCF (118-122) sendsa notification to the GS-C 116 requesting instructions before the callcan be routed. The GS-C 116 identifies to which GS-E 130 the subscriberbelongs (e.g., the subscriber is an employee of Acme corporation). TheGS-C 116 then forwards the information about the call request to thecorresponding GS-E 130 located in the enterprise network 30 of Acmecorporation. The information sent may include the originating subscriberinformation, the desired destination, the subscriber's present locationas well as other network-based service information. Note that the GS-C116 may not necessarily be physically located in the carrier network 20,and may instead be hosted external to the carrier's network 20 andinterconnected via the Internet Protocol (IP) and/or signaling system #7(SS7) signaling.

The GS-E 130 may not necessarily be physically located in the enterprisenetwork 30. Instead, the GS-E 130 could be hosted external to theenterprise network 30, for example in the carrier's network 20 or in athird party hosting facility, and interconnected with the enterprise viaan IP connection. In the case where the GS-E 130 is hosted by a carrier20 or third party, it is possible for the GS-E 130 to be configured as amulti-tenant platform allowing many enterprises 30 to utilize the sameGS-E 130, and where each enterprise 30 acts as a shared and securelyseparated tenant of the GS-E 130.

On reception of the information from the GS-C 116, the GS-E 130 thenapplies logic to this information in accordance with specific policiesto decide whether or not to allow the call origination to continue, andif so what instructions to send back to the GS-C 116 for the GS-C 116 toinstruct the MSC 110 or CSCF (118-122). If it has been determined thatthe RDS subscriber 102 is not located inside the vehicle 100, or if thevehicle is not activated (i.e. powered on) or the vehicle is not moving,or the vehicle is not moving over the hysteresis activation speed(e.g. >=15 mph), then the GS-E 130 may instruct the GS-C 116 to allowthe call to proceed as normal.

If however the vehicle is already activated (i.e. powered on) and inmotion, and it has been determined that the RDS subscriber 102 is insidethe vehicle, then the GS-E 130 may elect to disallow the callorigination request. Or the call may instead be routed to a pre-recordedmessage that may inform the driver that they cannot originate a callwhile the vehicle is in motion, or invoke other data communications. Ifthe RDS subscriber 102 has dialed an emergency number, the system wouldallow the call to be routed irrespective of any of the above conditions.The RDS 108 may also allow only specific phone numbers to be called whenthe above conditions are met, for example a pre-approved list, such asto a systems administrator, manager, spouse or child. In such a case,the system may inform the RDS subscriber 102 during the call setup thata particular call is being allowed for one of the above-noted purposesdespite the vehicle being in motion.

For a call termination to the subscriber, prior to routing the call theuser, the MSC 110 or CSCFs (118-122) would send a notification to theGS-E 130, which would determine the appropriate routing instructions.Similar to the above case of call origination, if it has been determinedthat the RDS subscriber 102 is not located inside the vehicle 100, or ifthe vehicle is not activated (i.e. powered on) or moving, or the vehicleis not moving over the hysteresis activation speed (e.g. >=15 mph), thenthe GS-E 130 may instruct the GS-C 116 to allow the call to proceed asnormal.

If however the vehicle is activated (i.e. powered on) and in motion, andit has been determined that the RDS subscriber 102 is inside thevehicle, then the GS-E 130 may elect to disallow the call terminationrequest, or may instead route the call to a pre-recorded message thatmay inform the caller that the RDS subscriber cannot be reached at thistime, or alternatively invoke other treatments. If it is an urgentmatter, the remote caller may be able to override the system with aspecial code that would force the call to be routed to the RDSsubscriber 102 irrespective of any of the above conditions.

The RDS 108 may also allow calls from only specific phone numbers to berouted when the above conditions are met, for example from apre-approved list, such as from a systems administrator, manager, spouseor child. In such a case, the system may inform the RDS subscriber 102with a special ring tone, a text message delivered in advance of thecall alerting, or a recorded message upon the call being answered thatthis particular call is being allowed despite the vehicle being inmotion.

In the case of text message originations and terminations, the case forcontrolling incoming and outgoing text messages is similar to the caseof mobile originations and terminations for mobile calls. Once thevehicle is in motion and it has been determined that the RDS subscriberis in the vehicle, the RDS policies are invoked by the GS-E 130. In thecase of a mobile originated text message (MO-T), whenever an RDSsubscriber 102 originates a text message, the MSC 110 or CSCF (118-122)sends a notification to the GS-C 116 requesting instructions before thetext can be routed. The GS-C 116 identifies which GS-E 130 provides asubscription to the subscriber, for example the subscriber may be anemployee of Acme corporation. The GS-C then forwards the informationabout the call request to the corresponding GS-E located in theenterprise network (of Acme corporation).

The information sent may include the originating subscriber information,the desired destination, the subscriber's location as well as othernetwork-based service information. Upon reception of the informationfrom the GS-C 116, the GS-E 130 then applies logic to this informationin accordance with specific policies to decide whether or not to allowthe text message to continue onward, and if so, what instructions tosend back to the GS-C 116 for the GS-C 116 to instruct the MSC 110 orCSCFs 118-122 and/or the short message service center (SMSC), which maybe part of the MSC 110.

If the RDS subscriber 102 is not located inside the vehicle 100, or ifthe vehicle 100 is not activated (i.e. powered on) or the vehicle is notmoving, or the vehicle is not moving over the hysteresis activationspeed (e.g. >=15 mph), then the GS-E 130 may instruct the GS-C 116 toallow the text message to proceed as normal. If however the vehicle 100is activated (i.e. powered on) and is in motion, and the RDS subscriber102 is inside the vehicle 100, then the GS-E 130 may elect to disallowthe text message from being delivered, and may instead deliver a textmessage to the RDS subscriber 102 with an indication that the textmessage failed and the reason (e.g. “vehicle is in motion”). Or instead,the GS-E 130 may invoke other treatments.

The RDS 108 may also allow text messages to be sent only to specificphone numbers when the above conditions are met, for example apre-approved list, such as to a systems administrator, manager, spouseor child. In such a case, the system may inform the RDS subscriber 102with a text message response and/or confirmation that because thisparticular text message is allowed to be delivered despite the vehiclebeing in motion. The system may elect to defer delivery of theconfirmation message until such time as the restrictions have beenlifted, for example when the vehicle comes to a stop.

For a mobile terminated text message (MT-T) to the subscriber, prior torouting the text message to the user, the MSC 110 or CSCFs 118-122 wouldsend a notification to the GS-E 130 that would determine the appropriaterouting instructions. Similar to the above case of MO-T, if it has beendetermined that the RDS subscriber is not located inside the vehicle, orif the vehicle is not activated (i.e. powered on) or the vehicle is notmoving, or the vehicle is not moving over the hysteresis activationspeed (e.g. >=15 mph), then the GS-E 130 may instruct the GS-C 116 toallow the text message to proceed as normal.

In the case where the vehicle is activated (i.e. powered on) and inmotion and it has been determined that the RDS subscriber 102 is inside,then the GS-E 130 may elect to disallow the text message from beingdelivered, and may instead deliver a text message to the originator withindication the text message failed and the reason (e.g. subscriber isunavailable at this time), or may invoke other treatments. The systemmay alternatively elect to defer delivery of the message in a queue,such as in the MSC 110, until such time as the restrictions have beenlifted, for example when the vehicle comes to a stop. The RDS 108 mayalso allow text messages to be received only from specific phone numberswhen the restrictions are in place, for example a pre-approved list,such as from a systems administrator, manager, spouse or child.

According to one example embodiment of the present invention, a methodof regulating mobile device usage may include determining a speed eventindicating that a speed of the motor vehicle has performed at least oneof exceeded a first threshold above which mobile device usagerestriction policies are invoked and fallen below the first thresholdallowing the mobile device restriction policies to be removed atoperation 402. The speed event may be a particular instance of motorvehicle speed measure by a GPS measurement, local radar or a mobiledevice application that uses GPS or the carrier network. The method mayalso provide transmitting the speed event to a remote edge gatewayserver located remotely from the motor vehicle, at operation 404 andstoring the speed event in the remote edge gateway server, at operation406.

Subsequently, at least one mobile device in the vehicle may performoriginating at least one of an attempted voice call, text message andmobile data communication session. As a result, the method may furtherprovide querying a carrier gateway server to determine how to route themobile data communication session. A message may be sent informing theremote edge gateway server of the mobile data communication sessionattempt and the stored speed event may be verified to determine whetherto invoke mobile device usage restriction policies. The method may alsoinclude sending routing instructions to the carrier gateway serverindicating how to route the mobile data communication session, androuting the mobile data communication session responsive to receivingthe routing instructions. A location of the mobile device(s) may bedetermined to be in close proximity to the motor vehicle based on adistance between the at least one mobile device and the motor vehicle.

Regarding mobile data restrictions, once the vehicle is in motion and ithas been determined that the RDS subscriber 102 is in the vehicle 100,the RDS policies are invoked by the GS-E 130. In the case of a mobiledata request whenever an RDS subscriber originates a mobile data request(e.g. http request), the SGSN sends a notification to the GS-C 116requesting instructions before the text can be routed. The combinationof the GS-C 116 and GS-E 130 may act as a GGSN, so that the GS-C 116appears to be a standard GGSN to the mobile network, which is securelyinterconnected via a secure tunnel to the GS-E 130 typically located inan enterprise 30.

The secure connection between the GS-C 116 and GS-E 130 can simply be anextension of the existing protocol between the SGSN and GGSN (e.g.gateway tunneling protocol (GTP) tunnel), or alternatively, can be adifferent security protocol specifically selected between the GS-C 116and GS-E 130 in accordance with the requirements of a particularenterprise (e.g. a proprietary high encryption protocol can be utilizedbetween the GS-C 116 and GS-E 130 for access to a military site).

The GS-C 116 identifies which GS-E 130 the subscriber belongs issubscribed with, for example the subscriber may be an employee of Acmecorporation. The GS-C 116 then forwards the information about the mobiledata request to the corresponding GS-E 130 located in the enterprisenetwork 30 of Acme corporation. The information sent may include theoriginating subscriber information and address, the desired destinationaddress, the subscriber's location as well as other network-basedservice information. Alternatively, the GS-C 116 may elect to send theentire mobile data request to the GS-E 130.

On reception of the information from the GS-C 116, the GS-E 130 thenapplies logic to this information in accordance with specific policiesto decide whether or not to allow the mobile data request to continue.If allowed, the GS-E 130 can route the mobile data request to itsintended destination. The return address can either be set to the GS-E130, which may maintain a session state in order to remember to allowthe response to be delivered back to the device 102, assuming it wasallowed to be delivered. Alternatively, the return address can be leftunaltered such that the response will be delivered directly back to theRDS mobile 102, and would then be subject to policy on the response leg.In this latter case, the GS-E 130 does not need to maintain stateinformation about the session.

If it is determined that the mobile data request is not allowed due tothe vehicle being in motion with the RDS subscriber inside, then the RDS108 may or may not inform the RDS subscriber 102, either via a mobiledata response or a text message with reason (e.g. request denied,vehicle in motion). In the case of a request delivered to the RDS mobile102, the above description remains the same, and the incoming request issubject to policies of the GS-E 130 before being delivered to the RDSmobile 102.

In both cases, it is possible to override the policy restrictions formobile data requests to and from a specific list, such as systemadministrators, managers, spouse, children and/or specific devices. Theoverride exceptions could be identified by their associated IPaddresses, port numbers or other methods of identification in accordancewith Internet addressing techniques. Their address information may bestored in an exception list that is referenced each time a call ormessage is originated or received from the mobile device 102.

With regard to certain restriction areas, such as femtocells orfemtozones, it is possible to impose policy restrictions on mobiledevice usage based on a specific location for any mobile device with theuse of miniature mobile base stations such as femtocells. Femtocells aresmall cellular base stations, that are typically designed for use in ahome or business, and which connect to the mobile carrier's networkusing a broadband connection typically over the Internet. These devicesare typically used to allow service providers to extend service coverageindoors, where access may otherwise be limited or unavailable. Thesolution works with any mobile phone from a particular mobile serviceprovider.

Extending this concept enables a femtocell or group of femtocells to beused not only for indoor use, but also outdoors, such as in a designatedschool zone, where using a mobile telephone may be prohibited whiledriving. This type of zone can be considered a femtozone. As a vehicleapproaches the school zone where restriction policies are mandated,signage would indicate that the user is approaching a school zone whereusage of mobile devices is not permitted while driving.

FIG. 3 illustrates a mobile deice 102 traversing through variousfemtocell zone locations, according to example embodiments of thepresent invention. As any mobile device 102 inside the vehicleapproaches the femtocell zones, or femtozone, the mobile device willattempt to connect to the femtocell base station. The femtozonesillustrated in FIG. 3 may be placed alongside a road that the vehicle100 is traveling. In this example, various femtozones are operated bybase stations 302, 304, 306 and 308.

Note that a femtocell is required for each mobile service provider in aschool zone, or alternatively a single femtocell can be shared bymultiple mobile service providers. Note that it is possible that when afemtocell detects a mobile device approaching, but where the signalstrength remains insufficient for the mobile to connect to thefemtocell, it is possible for the femtocell to nevertheless inform theGS-C 116/GS-E 130, which could, in turn, send a timely text message tothe mobile device to inform the subscriber that they are approaching aschool zone where restrictions are in force and will be imposed. It ispossible for the GS-E 130 to be located in a SCN that is managed andcontrolled by the school itself, a local government or municipality, amobile service provider, and/or by a third party company offering suchservices.

For mobile devices that are not already engaged in an active call, thedevices will register on the femtocell. The registration will berecorded in the HLR 112 and a VLR include din the MSC 110, and/or theHSS 114 and CSCFs 118-122, and/or the SGSN/GGSN of the GS-C 116 and GS-E130. If a mobile device 102 that is registered on the femtocell attemptsto make or receive a call, text and/or mobile data request, irrespectiveof whether or not the subscriber is designated as a RDS subscriber, theservice provider's GS-C 116 will be informed of the call, text or datasession in advance of it being routed.

In this case, the GS-C 116 can recognize that the subscriber 102 islocated on a femtocell that is in a school zone, and therefore routesthe information to a specific GS-E 330 that handles school zonerestrictions for all subscribers of this mobile service provider. TheGS-E 330 then can restrict the call, text and/or mobile data session, orapply specific policies as described earlier, such as to route anincoming call to voicemail.

The femtozone enabled GS-E 330 can enable restriction policies that takeinto account time of day (ToD), day of the week (DoW) and other criteriasuch as holidays to determine whether or not to invoke certainrestriction policies. For example, the femtozone GS-E 330 may imposedfull restrictions on calls, texts and mobile data during school zonetimes where vehicles are required to slow down to 20 mph, such as duringmorning drop-off and afternoon pickup times. Outside of these times, butstill during the school day, the GS-E 330 could be set to restrictorigination of outgoing calls and text messages but still allow incomingcalls and text messages to be received at the mobile device 102 insidethe vehicle 100. Outside of the school day as well as weekends andholidays, the system can be set to impose no restrictions.

If the subscriber 102 was traveling through the school zone is also aRDS subscriber, the GS-C 116 would assign the school zone GS-E 330 asthe primary GS-E for imposing restrictions, and could subsequently deferto the enterprise GS-E 130 as a secondary GS-E, should additionalrestrictions be required. For example, if an RDS subscriber 102 weretraveling through a schoolzone on the weekend, then the school GS-E 330would impose no restrictions, however the enterprise GS-E 130 couldstill impose restrictions to prevent calls and text messages while thevehicle is in motion.

In the case of a call-in-progress, when any mobile subscriber 102approaches the school zone femtocell, the call would be handed off tothe femtocell as expected. In this example, certain policies could beinstituted in which the call could be ended by the network, or othercall handling procedures, such as pausing the conversation by placingthe parties on hold and potentially playing a recorded message toindicate to one or both parties that the mobile user is in the schoolzone and will be placed on hold until they leave the school zone. Themessage played to the other party may be a message indicating the useris temporarily unavailable but will be reconnected shortly.

When the mobile subscriber exits the school zone and performs a handofffrom the femtocell back to the macro-cellular network of FIG. 1, thecall can be reconnected automatically. Note that it is possible that amobile subscriber that is not in a vehicle enters the femtozone willalso have restrictions imposed. For example, although the mobile usermay not be an RDS subscriber, the vehicle's RDSS system may still beused to restrictions on the user of the vehicle.

In order to enable mobile subscribers to exit a restricted mode, anoverride code can be used. For example, the system may send a user atext message as they approach a femtocell or when they have alreadyregistered on the femtocell, and therefore have been restricted. Thetext message may include an override code that the user can invoke. Thiscode can be made sufficiently lengthy so as to significantly discourageusers in a vehicle from attempting to enter the override code during theperiod in which they're located in the femtozone.

Another example may include calculating the vehicle's location atmultiple points to determine velocity, and if the user exceeds a certainspeed for walking such as 5 mph, then it can be assumed the mobilesubscriber is in a vehicle. This example can make use of network-basedGPS calculations via the MLC and GS-C 116 and GS-E 130, or alternativelyusing an open and accessible GPS device on the mobile device itself, ora combination of network and device-based GPS implementations.

In another example, by setting up a series of femtocells within theschool zone, instead of a single femtocell, it is possible to enable thefemtocells to be utilized to ascertain the location rather thanburdening the more expensive macro cellular network. Referring to FIG.3, a school zone can be setup with multiple femtocells, such as three ormore (e.g., 302, 304, 306 and 308). The first zone 304 may be one end ofthe school zone, the second zone 302 may be within the schoolzone areaof the school 350 but away from the street, and the third and fourth,306 and 308, respectively, may be located at opposite ends of thefemtozone.

In this school zone example, three of the four femtocell base stationsmay form a triangle that can be used to determine location informationwithin the primary femtozone 302 via triangulation of the mobile devicepower signal or via any comparable position determining algorithm. Theselocation calculations can be handled by a dedicated MLC either in theservice provider's network, a network dedicated to a group of schoolsand/or school zones, or to a single school zone. In this case, it ispossible for a dedicated MLC to be connected directly to a femtocellcontroller included in the GS-E 330, exclusively for calculatingvelocity. In this manner, the service provider's main MLC typically usedfor 911 emergency calls on the macro cellular network will not beoverloaded, nor will the macro network cellular radios be overloadedwith mobile location requests.

In another method, any mobile device that enters the school zone canattach to the femtocell, and once connected with the femtocell, themobile device will automatically be subject to restriction policies inaccordance with the rules (e.g. during the school zone restrictionperiod when the lights are flashing, restrict all incoming/outgoingcalls, outgoing texts and mobile data requests, etc.). This implies thatall mobile devices may be subject to the policies, conditions andrestrictions of the school zone, irrespective of whether the mobile useris walking, or driving in a vehicle.

When the user makes or receives calls or text messages or originatesmobile data, the network will request their permission to proceed and bydoing so the user is acknowledging that they are in compliance with thelocal regulations (i.e. that they are not the driver of a motor vehicleat the time of the event). The mobile user's acknowledgement is recordedin the system as an event, and can be later retrieved should the userhave been found to be driving in violation of the rules.

According to one example method of operation, a mobile user may enterthe school zone and connect to the femtocell, the user may attempt tooriginate a call. Before the call is routed to its intended destination,a recorded message can be played to the originating party stating forexample, “you are in a school zone where it is prohibited to use yourmobile phone while driving. Press 1 or say “proceed” to acknowledge thatyou are not driving or press 2 for help”. The user may then press 1 orsay “proceed”, or press 2 or say “help” for more information. The systemrecords the user's selection in its database, and allows the call toproceed. Otherwise, the call may be terminated.

A user that is a passenger in the vehicle (not the driver), or who is apedestrian in the school zone, can enable calls to be routed withoutrestriction. Note that the system can also record that the user hung upthe call or simply did not proceed with the call. This information canbe used as a confirmation that the user heard the message and realizedthey were in the school zone, and elected to comply with the regulationby not proceeding with the call. If the user selects 2 or says “help”,the system can inform the user of additional information, such as theregulations, the times when the regulations are in force, as well asoverride capabilities described in detail below.

In the event of calls terminated to a mobile user in the femtocell afterthe mobile phone rings, the subscriber can answer the call and be playeda similar message. The user can then hang up or press 1 or say “proceed”to acknowledge that they are not driving in order to proceed withaccepting the call. In the case of the user originating a text message,after the user has sent the text message, the system can respond with atext message stating “you are in a school zone where it is prohibited touse your mobile phone while driving, reply to this message with [“p”] toproceed and acknowledge that you are not driving”. Note the text withinthe brackets can be optional. If the user responds to the text messagewith [“p”] if the message so stated, the system records the user'schoice in the database, and then allows the text message to bedelivered.

The system may not prevent the user from composing and sending the textmessage in the first place. However, the notifications will make theuser aware of the regulation for subsequent messages and prevent themessage from being delivered without their confirmation ofacknowledgement. The user's action on whether or not to proceed will berecorded in the system and can be later retrieved. The user may berequired to undergo additional operations and steps to send or receive atext message while traveling through a regulated area or zone. Thisadd-on feature of the local system may be a deterrent or avoidanceprocedure in of itself without requiring the ability to block or stop auser's cellular service.

If the user elects not to proceed by responding with any otherinformation than what was specified or by not responding at all, thetext message can either be discarded and the user will have to re-sendthe message when they are out of the school zone, or alternatively thesystem can automatically send the message when the user's mobileregisters that it has left the school zone (by exiting the femtocell andconnecting to the macro cell). Alternatively, the system can inform theuser with a text message when the user has exited the school zone thatthey have a text message pending for delivery and request the user ifthe message should be sent, to which the user can respond by replying tothis notification text message whether to deliver or discard themessage. The user's decision can also be recorded by the system byindicating that the user waited until exiting the school zone to deliverthe message.

Incoming text messages can be held in a store-and-forward queue untilthe subscriber exists the femtozone. However, if the user is apedestrian or someone who is not the driver then they will not haveknowledge that text messages are waiting for them. In this case a textmessage can be sent to the user stating “you have a text message waitingbut you are in a school zone where it is prohibited to use your mobilephone while driving, reply to this message with [“p”] to proceed and toacknowledge that you are not driving.” If the user responds with “p”,the system records the user's choice in the database, and then allowsthe text message to be delivered. The user's action on whether or not toproceed will be recorded in the system and can be later retrieved.

If the user elects not to proceed by responding with any otherinformation other than what was specified, or by not responding at all,the text message can either be discarded, or alternatively, the systemcan automatically send it when the user's mobile device confirms that ithas left the school zone. The mobile device may confirm that it is readyto accept communications by exiting the femtocell and connecting to themacro cell, or the system can inform the user with a text message whenthey have exited the school zone that they have a text message pending.The system may send a request to the user to determine if the messageshould be delivered. In response, the user can respond to thenotification text message whether to deliver or discard the message.This information can also be recorded by the system (e.g. that the userwaited until exiting the school zone for delivery of the message).

Note that in some cases, calls or texts to or from emergency numberssuch as 911 will always override these policies. For pedestrians ordrivers that are regularly in the school zone during the restrictionperiods, the system can enable them to use override codes to be able torecord their acknowledgements that they are not driving without havingto go through the steps of responding to a confirmation message. Theseoverride capabilities can also be enabled for RDS subscribers, so thatthey are able to override the system in an emergency, if they are notthe driver of the vehicle, or for other reasons while ensuring thattheir decision to override is recorded by the system.

For example, a user originating a mobile phone call or text message canenter a prefix code such as *11 before the digits to be dialed, orappend a postfix code such as #11 to the digits to be dialed. Byincluding such a code, the system may consider that the user is not thedriver and therefore should proceed with the call or text message. Thesystem would strip the prefix or postfix, record the user'sacknowledgement in the database and then proceed with the call or textmessage. The system can be set to require the prefix or postfix code foreach and every call or text message, or can be set to require the codeonly for the first communication attempt, until such time as the userhas exited the school zone, or the restriction period has ended.

Different override codes can be used for different reasons withdifferent policies. For example, *99 or #99 can be used by thesubscriber to indicate that the override request was to address anemergency situation. In another example, *22 or #22 could be used toindicate that the override request was to indicate that the user is in aschool zone but are not in a vehicle.

In another case, it is possible to override the system automatically ifthe system determines the mobile device is specifically exempt from thepolicies. For example, if the subscriber is also an RDS subscriber andthe system has been able to determine that they are in their vehiclewithin the school zone and that the vehicle is stopped or travelingbelow the threshold above which the restrictions normally apply, thenthe system can automatically enable calls and/or texts or mobile data tobe utilized by the user without having to go through the steps ofresponding to a confirmation message.

Regulating the mobile device communications in certain geographicalareas may be performed with modifications to the device itself. Also, nosoftware is required to be deployed onto the mobile device 102. Also,there is no requirement that a mobile device support a GPS service,BLUETOOTH, WiFi, etc. Such a system may enable the aggregation of boththe vehicle and calling data in the network to be reviewed, verified andserve as input to driver scoring algorithms, insurance ratings or otherstatistical analyses. Other features may enable the carrier to be anintegral part of the value proposition so the carrier's networkinformation is utilized to enable the system.

FIG. 4 illustrates an example method of regulating mobile devicecommunications while operating a motor vehicle. Referring to FIG. 4, themethod may include transmitting a connection request message to a firstbase station to a session switching network via the mobile devicetraveling in a moving motor vehicle, at operation 402. The method mayalso include transmitting a notification message identifying the mobiledevice to a gateway server from the session switching network, atoperation 404, and receiving a treatment response from the gatewayserver, the treatment response ordering a treatment different from anormal treatment to reflect restrictions on the use of the mobile devicewithin a communication area of the base station, at operation 406.

The operations of a method or algorithm described in connection with theembodiments disclosed herein may be embodied directly in hardware, in acomputer program executed by a processor, or in a combination of thetwo. A computer program may be embodied on a computer readable medium,such as a storage medium. For example, a computer program may reside inrandom access memory (“RAM”), flash memory, read-only memory (“ROM”),erasable programmable read-only memory (“EPROM”), electrically erasableprogrammable read-only memory (“EEPROM”), registers, hard disk, aremovable disk, a compact disk read-only memory (“CD-ROM”), or any otherform of storage medium known in the art.

An exemplary storage medium may be coupled to the processor such thatthe processor may read information from, and write information to, thestorage medium. In the alternative, the storage medium may be integralto the processor. The processor and the storage medium may reside in anapplication specific integrated circuit (“ASIC”). In the alternative,the processor and the storage medium may reside as discrete components.For example, FIG. 5 illustrates an example network element 500, whichmay represent any of the above-described network components 102-134,etc.

As illustrated in FIG. 5, a memory 510 and a processor 520 may bediscrete components of the network entity 500 that are used to executean application or set of operations. The application may be coded insoftware in a computer language understood by the processor 520, andstored in a computer readable medium, such as, the memory 510. Thecomputer readable medium may be a non-transitory computer readablemedium that includes tangible hardware components in addition tosoftware stored in memory. Furthermore, a software module 530 may beanother discrete entity that is part of the network entity 500, andwhich contains software instructions that may be executed by theprocessor 520. In addition to the above noted components of the networkentity 500, the network entity 500 may also have a transmitter andreceiver pair configured to receive and transmit communication signals(not shown).

Vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communication is the sharing of informationbetween a vehicle to any communication enabled entity that may impactthe vehicle. V2X may include vehicular communication systems that mayincorporate specific communications including but not limited to V2V(Vehicle-to-vehicle), V2I (Vehicle-to-Infrastructure), V2P(Vehicle-to-Pedestrian), V2D (Vehicle-to-device) and V2G(Vehicle-to-grid). All such examples include, fundamentally, one or morevehicle communication devices and one or more external communicationdevices attempting to receive and/or transmit data to the vehiclecommunication device.

The V2X system environment may promote efficiency and personal safety topassengers, drivers, pedestrians and other user environments. In a morespecific context, V2V communication may include the sharing of databetween vehicles, via vehicle communication devices located on and/oraround the vehicles, transmitted wirelessly for the purpose of enablingvehicles to share information, such as position, speed, vehicleattributes, current operating conditions, third party safety concerns,etc. over an ad-hoc network. This information can then be utilized toprovide drivers with informative and even ‘warning’ information and/orenable the vehicle control systems to take pre-emptive actions to changedirections to optimize efficiency, reduce travel time, reduce riskand/or avoid collisions.

V2V communications provide information necessary for a vehicle toaugment its own onboard vehicular control systems for various function,including but not limited to lane departure/change, adaptive cruisecontrol, blind spot detection, parking sonar guidance, construction siteslow-downs, traffic pattern adaptation, and backup cameras with live andreal-time information and surrounding awareness in order to be able tomake intelligent decisions regarding the vehicle control and operation.V2V generally uses short range communications to share information fromone vehicle to other vehicles and/or with nearby or road adjacentvehicle detection communication platforms designed to communicatedirectly with the vehicle communication modules.

V2V communications systems may use dedicated short-range radiocommunication (DSRC) to send messages that contain information about avehicle in motion, and also to receive information from other vehicles,which may be traveling on the same road, in a different direction and/oralongside other vehicles within range of the short-range radiocommunication. This information that is shared can include, but is notlimited to vehicle speed, direction of travel, braking information, etc.DSRC is a radio frequency (RF) technology that is intended to be secure,short range, quick and able to pass through and around barriers and isnot just a line-of-sight type of communication. The messages thatvehicles exchange may be a basic safety message (BSM), which can be sentmultiple times per second, typically ten times a second. Receivingvehicles of BSMs can utilize the information to assess collision threatsdepending on rules, procedures and other information stored in thevehicle computer processing platform. With this shared information,safety features can be invoked to provide drivers with warnings, such aswhen it is not safe to enter an intersection or to make a turn maneuver,or to be alerted about upcoming stopped traffic, etc. This informationcan also be utilized as inputs to autonomous and semi-autonomous drivingand navigation systems to enable and assess optimal routes in a safemanner. For example, this shared information can be provided as input toa blind sport warning, lane change warning, forward collision warningand automatic braking systems. In the case of active systems, such asautomatic braking, BSM input can be utilized to invoke automatic brakingto avoid a collision.

Similarly, the BSM information (also referred to interchangeably as V2Vinformation) can be utilized to manage policies for occupants of thevehicle such as the driver, front passenger and other passengers thatmay be seated in rear seats. Different policies can be applied todifferent types of occupants based on demographics, seating location inthe vehicle and designated function information (e.g., driver, frontpassenger, rear passenger, etc.). This can include policies to limit orcontrol distracting information to a driver that can be presented on amobile device, on an in-vehicle ‘infotainment’ screen (frontdriver-accessible or driver-visible), or for rear passengers (non-driveraccessible or driver-visible or other designations) or also a heads-updisplay (HUD), which may provide information projected onto the driverwindshield.

In one example, an inexperienced teen driver may have more restrictivepolicies imposed when compared with a 5-year accident-free driver. Forexample, a teen driver or an elderly driver operating a vehicle may haverestrictions that prevent all communications services including calls,messaging, such as texting, MMS and data usage except for emergencyservices, such as for calling, messaging and data which may still bepermitted from the time the vehicle is turned on until the time isvehicle is turned off, even when the vehicle is at rest and while thevehicle is turned on and operable. These restrictions can be extended toin-vehicles systems such as the head unit, display screens, controlsystems and even the Head-Up Displays (HUD), where restrictions may beplaced on what information is displayed for the driver such as speed,limited navigation information and safety systems information, such asblind spot warnings or lane keep assist alerts, while restricting otherinformation, such as ‘infotainment’ or Internet services alerts.Conversely, a 5-year accident-free driver may be permitted to receiveincoming calls and selected incoming messages with the ability to submitcanned responses (i.e. a limited set of easily invoked responses thatcan be selected with minimal cognitive and physical input) when thevehicle is in motion as long as there is minimal V2V traffic detected orwhen they are stopped at a traffic signal, where the V2I informationindicates there is sufficient time available until the traffic signalchanges.

V2I is a communication system which enables vehicles to shareinformation with infrastructure components that support traffic androadway systems. A few examples of such services may include, but arenot limited to, traffic lights, lane markers, street lighting, RFIDsystems, traffic and speed cameras, road signage, parking meters, etc.V2I communication is bi-directional and can be both short and longrange. Short range systems can use mesh network technologies enabling avehicle to communicate with, for example, a stationary traffic light asthe vehicle approaches the traffic light location. Long range systemsmay use mesh networks or mobile networks such as those operated bycellular network providers, which can interface with the Internet andprivate networks including intelligent transportation systems. Thesesystems can share intelligent traffic information with a vehicle, suchas traffic light sequencing information which can be used, for example,to identify and share with the driver or vehicle systems associated withthe driver when a traffic light will turn green, provide a suggestedspeed to the driver or related vehicle systems in order to minimize redlights experienced by the vehicle movement on a projected route.

The sharing of V2I information with any particular vehicle can assistwith traffic light sequencing. This information can be shared with thevehicle to alert the driver as to when the traffic light is expected tochange from red to green as the driver is waiting at a red light, or,when a driver is in motion and approaching a green light, a point intime and/or location when the driver can be alerted as to how much timeremains until the light will change to yellow and/or red. All suchinformation can optimize driving experiences, and may provideopportunities for drivers to engage in mobile device usage at safe timesand locations even when operating the vehicle.

Similarly, this shared vehicle network information can be used byautonomous and semi-autonomous vehicles, for example, to decide when avehicle should begin moving and accelerating and/or decide when tore-activate an internal combustion engine in a vehicle equipped with anengine start/stop feature such that the engine will automaticallyre-start just before the light turns to green so that the vehicle isready to accelerate at the right moment while preserving fuel economy.

In one example embodiment, a vehicle equipped with V2I services can alsobe used to optimize distracted and unsafe driving with any participatingvehicle. Drivers of a vehicle may be prohibited from viewing and/orinteracting with a vehicle device, such as an onboard ‘infotainment’screen in the vehicle that could be used for controlling audio andvisual entertainment, such as a radio or navigation or a control systemfor climate, and other vehicle features, and/or a user device, such as amobile phone (i.e., smartphone, cellular phone, or any computing device)when a vehicle is in motion, or even instances of non-motion when thevehicle is in traffic and/or on a roadway. The vehicle or user devicemay or may not be connected to the vehicle either physically, such as ina mount and/or using a physical wire connection and/or electronicallyvia a wired or wireless connection. The vehicle device may be a softwaremodule included in the user's mobile device or a software moduleembedded in the computer hardware of the vehicle that operates theinfotainment (entertainment, navigation, Internet applications, etc.),communications systems, including telematics control units (TCU) forenabling Internet access and/or mobile or cellular voice communications,and emergency and safety services or in-vehicle systems communicationsover a Controller Area Network (CAN bus) or control systems such as forclimate. Various different technologies may be used to selectively orcompletely block access to such a vehicle device or user device by adriver when the vehicle is in motion. However, the restrictions imposedon any such vehicle or user devices should be accurately and preciselyused to identify when to restrict access to a potentially distractingvehicle or user device, such that a user may be permitted to access thevehicle or user device immediately when they are allowed, andimmediately restricted when they are prohibited from such usage.

According to other example embodiments, Vehicle to Pedestrian (V2P)information may include multiple types of road users including, but notlimited to, walkers, bicyclists, wheelchair pedestrians and/or otherusers of mobility devices including children in strollers, persons withhandicaps including blindness, deafness and mobility impairments,passengers entering or exiting a stopped vehicle, such as a train orbus, etc. V2P information may be shared between devices on the actualtransports themselves, such as from a mobile phone in possession of awalker or bicyclist, or via a dedicated device onboard a transport suchas a bus, train, bicycle, wheelchair, and stroller. These devices cancommunicate with vehicle systems to provide in-vehicle information, suchas upcoming and intended direction of bicyclists or persons withblindness or other handicaps, active or inactive school zones or othercrosswalks, warnings such as blind-spot or forward collision warningsand can also activate autonomous vehicle systems to invokecollision-avoidance systems, such as alert notifications, automaticsteering and/or automatic braking.

Similarly pedestrian devices can receive vehicular information to alertpedestrians of approaching traffic, intended direction and traffic type,such as motorcycle, passenger car, commercial transport, large truck,oversized vehicle and/or potential collisions, such as via thepedestrian's mobile device or a system onboard a pedestrian transportand can be integrated with autonomous systems to actively reducecollisions, such as activating visual and/or sound alerts, closing doorsor pulling in a ramp on a bus or train, and/or actively changing acourse of a pedestrian transport such as a stroller, bicycle or wheelchair.

V2V, V2I and/or V2P information can be utilized as input to one or moredevices to impose such user device restriction policies. In one example,a vehicle may have just come to rest at a traffic light and is notmoving. The mobile device may be able to detect that the device has cometo rest, using position detection via GPS, WiFi, Doppler effectfrequency detection, access to the vehicle's recent speed information orother methods, and by nature of the user device and/or vehicle devicebeing in the vehicle, that information can be used to report that thevehicle has come to rest as a condition precedent to permitting or notpermitting user access to one or more features. Similarly, usingvehicular information, such as from an OBDII device or an on-boardtelematics system, it can be determined that the vehicle is not moving.The information that the vehicle is not moving can be shared with anapplication residing in a network cloud, in a private cloud, such aswithin the control of an enterprise system, in the vehicle, or on thevehicle device and/or mobile device.

That information can be used as input to a policy decision logic todetermine as to whether or not to permit access to the mobile device.The V2V, V2I and/or V2P information can then be referenced as part ofthe policy decision. In doing so, V2I information can be used, forexample, when it can be determined that the vehicle has come to restclose to a traffic light and that traffic light is red. Also, additionaldecision factors to permit usage may be based on known informationregarding whether that stoppage is likely to occur for a long enoughperiod of time to warrant usage of the user device.

The V2I information sharing system can share the traffic lightsequencing information, such that it can be determined, or provided bythe traffic system, the amount of time remaining until the light willchange to green. Based on this information, the policy function canassess whether there is sufficient time to enable the driver to be givenaccess to the device, potentially prioritizing specific information forthe driver to view, such as a message deemed important and/or from aspecific entity that came in while the driver was previously in motion.For example, if there is not a sufficiently large window of time presentat a particular traffic light stop, then perhaps only messages deemedimportant may be released to the user interface, such as an e-mail orSMS message which was previously queued and held by a managementapplication. In the event that there is a limited time window (e.g., 1minute, 30 seconds, etc.), then only certain information may be shared,such as a message identified as having important information, whileother such messages previously queued which do not have an importantdesignation, are still withheld until a later time when the vehicle isknown to be in a safer location and/or for a longer time window stoppingpoint. The system application can also share with the driver device theamount of time remaining until the traffic light will change to green,and provide a different amount of time until the device will be lockedagain, for example, the policy can be set to lock the device five or tenseconds before the light turns green in order for the driver to be ableto prepare for the task of taking over control of the vehicle in motionand not being distracted at that moment in time.

If the amount of time from when the vehicle came to rest and when thelight will change to green is a short time window, the policy systemmay, for example, select not to grant access to the driver to use thedevice, or alternatively, may instead only display selected informationfor the driver to view in the remaining time, such as a number ofmessages that are queued for delivery (e.g., voice, text, e-mail, socialmedia, etc.), from which locations (entity, application, etc.) and ifany were marked urgent. With that information, the driver may elect tochange their plans and instead of continuing their journey, may insteadchoose to pull over in a safe area where they will be granted fullaccess to the device so that they can review and respond to the messagesonce the vehicle has been parked for a certain period of time and/or isidentified as not being on the established roadway and in traffic withother vehicles or other criteria for determining the driver is safe tobe granted access.

V2V information can also be utilized as input to policy decisions forenabling access to distracting devices. The detection of significant V2Vinformation by the driver's vehicle device and/or mobile device mayindicate there is significant traffic in the immediate area, and thissituation may warrant more attention and focus by the driver on the taskof operating the vehicle in which case the user's mobile device mayagain be disabled or restricted from usage. The tiers of restrictionsmay include but are not limited to no (SMS) text messaging, no Internetor cellular data usage, no phone call usage (incoming and/or outgoing),and no display usage (i.e., nothing is accessible) absent a fewexceptions, such as streaming music applications providing BLUETOOTHaudio to the vehicle infotainment system.

The detected V2V information can be shared with other computing systemsthat can analyze this information, such as via an algorithm or procedureto provide as input to a policy configuration, which can be used toapply policies to the user device for restricting access to all orselect features and functions. Typically, a policy would activate morestringent restrictions when a threshold of a high amount of V2Vinformation confirmed traffic has been detected and possibly moving in aparticular direction, such as towards or away from or perpendicular tothe vehicle and or where V2V information from other vehicles indicatesthey are within a close proximity possibly including the other vehiclesdirection of travel. The number of vehicles present to a particularvehicle and their direction of travel relative to a particular vehicleis directly proportional to an amount of danger, risk or other limitingfactors required to be identified to increase safety on that particularroadway. Any of these factors may increase or decrease the relativesafety risk level, which in turn, would increase or decrease the levelof restrictions on user device usage while driving.

In another example, different restriction policies may be invoked if thelocation information of another vehicle is determined to be close to thetarget vehicle in which the driver is located (e.g. within a specificdistance). In this example, the directional information of the othervehicle indicates it is headed towards the target vehicle versus drivingaway from the target, or the other vehicle is driving parallel to thedirection of the target in the same direction or in the oppositedirection.

In the case where there are many vehicles detected traveling in the samedirection, elevated risk can be assessed by the policy engine andappropriate restrictions can be dynamically invoked such as restrictingnot only outgoing calls and messages but also restricting incoming callsand messages until such time as the detected traffic is reduced for aduration of time, such as for at least two minutes, at which timeincoming calls and select incoming messages may be permitted to beaccessed again.

In the case where there are many vehicles detected traveling in theopposite direction, a different level of risk can be assessed by thepolicy engine. For example, if the target vehicle is traveling in alocation at the time of the detection of the high level of traffictraveling towards the target vehicle and it is known that at thislocation on the road there is a physical concrete separation barrierbetween the two sides of the road, then perhaps a lower level of riskmay be assessed since the target vehicle is protected from that oncomingtraffic by the known physical barrier. However, if this is a highway orroad with no barrier in between, then a higher level of risk may beassessed since the target vehicle is not protected from that oncomingtraffic and therefore the driver must be fully alert to the oncomingtraffic.

In the case where a vehicle is approaching an intersection and may notstop at a red light where a target vehicle is waiting to enter theintersection when the traffic signal turns green, the approachingvehicle's V2V BSM information can be utilized by the target vehicle notonly to dynamically apply restriction policies to any distractingdevices, such as the driver's mobile device(s) as well as in-vehiclehead units and infotainment systems, but also to provide warnings to thedriver's accessible devices or to the autonomous driving system to‘wait’ before entering the intersection, even after the traffic signalhas turned to green for the target vehicle, until such point as theapproaching vehicle has passed, thereby potentially avoiding acollision. In such a case, the V2V BSM information sent from the vehicleapproaching the intersection perpendicular to the target vehicle can becombined with the V2I information from the traffic network to betterdetermine if the approaching vehicle is capable or intends to stop intime to avoid unsafe events, or if the approaching vehicle is likelygoing to go through the intersection even after the traffic signalturned red and where the approaching vehicle should have stopped.

Similarly, a policy for restoring access to all or select features andfunctions of a user's mobile device would be executed following thedetermination of little or no V2V traffic having been detected for apredetermined amount of time. The policies may require a certain amountof time to pass before the restrictions are added or removed to ensurethe change in traffic is sufficient to justify a reduction in risk andto eliminate the likelihood of an anomaly of no vehicles on an otherwisebusy roadway. Other inputs and/or criteria can be used other than timefor assessing the determination of reduced or increased risk based ondetected V2V traffic. For example, this can include time of day/day ofweek to determine if it is rush hour, historical information such aspreviously recorded traffic information, updated location informationincluding work zone or construction areas, and recent weather reports,etc.

In one example, V2V information may be utilized as input to policyrestrictions on a distracting device for a package delivery driver andcorresponding application process. In this example, the policy of theservice company that employs the driver and/or the insurance carrier ofthe company that insures the company and its drivers may select torestrict the driver of that vehicle from being able to access or viewthe vehicle device or their user device when the vehicle is in motionand there is surrounding traffic detected. However, when it has beendetermined that there has been no traffic detected for a defined periodof time or other factors, such as weather, road construction, etc., areno longer posing an elevated risk, the policy may change enable thedriver to have limited or complete access to the vehicle or user device.

In the case of complete access, the driver would be able to access thevehicle device(s) to control vehicle systems and access the user deviceto view all messages, interact with all applications and be able toinitiate and respond to communications including phone calls, text (SMS)or multimedia (MMS) messages, mobile applications, Internet browsingand/or corporate network access.

In the case of limited access, examples of driver restrictions couldinclude, but are not limited to compound examples of multiple trafficrestriction variables. The compound policies can be separated intoseparate policies and the combining of criteria into a compound policyis for illustrative purposes only. In one example, only incoming callspermitted from a dispatch center may be permitted when the vehicle istraveling at a speed under an example predetermined speed threshold,such as 50 kph or 30 mph.

Another example may provide displaying on the vehicle device or the userdevice screen select message details of messages that were previouslydelivered, such as only messages from the dispatch center and onlywhether the message is marked urgent, so that the driver can assess suchinformation to decide if they need to pull over to view the full messageand possibly respond, where the driver may at least be aware of suchmessages and make the decision to leave the roadway in order to view thedetailed information and provide responses. Another example may provideaccess to select applications with limited capabilities, such asnavigation applications where only pre-programmed addresses can beselected when the vehicle is in motion, or Internet radio where onlyselect functions are accessible such as play, stop, next track, previoustrack. Another example provides enabling audible tones, canned messagesor text-to-speech of all or select messages as such messages arrive orhave been received.

There are typically six levels defined for automated driving such as inthe SAE J3016 specification. Level zero is typically defined as noautomation, and therefore the human driver is required all of the timefor all tasks associated with driving. Level one is driver assistance,which implies the driver must be ready to take over at anytime fromfeatures such as parking assist, lane keeping assist and/or adaptivecruise control. Level two is partial automation, which enables avehicle's automated systems to perform the driving functions includingacceleration, braking and steering under limited circumstances with thedriver ready to take control at any moment. In level three conditionalautomation provides that the vehicle can be in full control of drivingin specific environments and situations where humans can then performother tasks but can be requested to take control at any moment. Levelfour is high automation, which provides full vehicle control in mostsituations, however if a human driver does not respond to requests tointervene the vehicle will still be able to manage the situation, suchas safely bringing the vehicle to rest. Finally, level five is fullautomation which implies no restrictions on automated driving with nohuman intervention required.

In all of the above levels of vehicle control autonomy, the driver isexpected to be able to take control of the vehicle in some capacityexcept for level five full automation. For example, in levels 1-4 wherethere are partial levels of autonomy, the vehicle systems can at anymoment request or require the driver to take control of the vehicle. Assuch, it is important that the driver be in a position both physicallyand mentally to assume control of the vehicle control systems.Physically, the driver must be able to take over the controls of thevehicle when indicated by the automated systems by placing their handsand feet on the controls and using their senses including eyes, ears andnose to cognitively process the situation and environment. The drivermust also be knowledgeable and have experience driving a vehicle.

To be able to cognitively process the situation and environment mayrequire time, particularly if the human driver is or has previously beenimmersed in other cognitive tasks such as playing a game, reading,watching a video, operating vehicle infotainment or control systems orcomposing a message on a mobile device. While the human driver may be ina position to quickly physically assume the controls of the vehicle, itmay take more time for the human's cognitive abilities to reach a statewhere they can exercise sound judgement in how to handle the situationeffectively to safely control the vehicle. The time from which thedriver is alerted that they are needed to assume control, until the timethey are both physically in control of the vehicle systems andcognitively able to exercise judgement, can be defined as the humandriver refocus time (HDRT).

Alerts from the vehicle systems that the human driver is needed to takecontrol should be greater than or equal to the HDRT to ensure safetransition and to not create additional risks. As a result, theautonomous vehicle control systems may use history, intelligence andalgorithms/procedures to assess the right point in time at which tobegin alerting the driver. If the time given from the start of the alertuntil the point where the human driver is needed is less than anestablished HDRT, a situation may exist where neither the autonomouscontrols nor the human driver are in control of the vehicle which couldresult in an accident.

The amount of time from which the autonomous vehicle control systemsdetermine that the human driver is required to assume control must be atleast the HDRT in order to ensure the vehicle remains in control. Also,the HDRT must be short enough that the transition can be made withoutadded delays but also sufficient for the driver to be able to use goodjudgement in making the transition.

In a lower level automated driving scenario, such as level 1 or 2control, the HDRT is expected to be short as the automated systems mayhave limited advance forecasting capabilities, and the driver is alreadyaware of the required interaction. As the autonomy level increases suchas level 3 or 4, it is possible to have additional forecastingcapabilities as to when the driver must be alerted to assume control,such as awareness of upcoming weather, traffic, construction or physicalroad conditions, however this is not always the case since an emergencysituation that the automated systems may not be able to handle can occurat any moment and may require more immediate takeover requirements.Furthermore, it is possible that autonomous control systems beprogrammed to delay alerting the driver to take over control until aspecific moment, such as when the vehicle is about to enter anenvironment where the automated systems are not capable of controllingthe vehicle. In this case, it is possible that the automated systems maydelay this time for notification or prompting the driver.

Until a vehicle supports full autonomy, the driver is expected to beavailable to take control at anytime. Automated vehicles can interactwith devices to alert the driver to operate the vehicle. The policydecision and/or algorithm to decide the specific point at which to alertthe human driver can include information around distracted driving, suchas whether or not the human driver is engaged with a mobile ordistracting device at all and even what they are doing on the device,such as determining whether their actions are mind-intensive or of lowbrainpower impact. For example, a task that requires intense thought mayrequire more time from which to disengage by the human driver beforethey can be considered wholly active at the vehicle controls. Similarly,if they are engaged in a less intense task, such as watching a shortvideo clip, it may be sufficient to alert the user on the device itselfthat the vehicle may need driver intervention shortly. Such factors maybe further determined based on historic information, driving record,demographic, age of the driver, and other factors which may fine tunethe time for transition afforded to a particular driver. Suchinformation may be retrieved from a driver profile and applied to theprocedure used to determine such time-based restrictions.

FIG. 6A illustrates a network configuration associated with the vehiclecommunication configurations of the example embodiments. Referring toFIG. 6A, the network 600 displays a system for enabling a trafficnetwork 630 having traffic signal network data 632 and trafficmanagement network information 634 to be communicatively coupled with aservices network 620, which includes a policy engine 622, and which canbe communicatively coupled with mobile and stationary devices 646including but not limited to mobile phones, tablets, in-vehicle computersystems as well as with devices that may be connected to the vehicle'sinfotainment and control functions and related communications systemssuch as via an OBDII device 648 connected to an OBDII port in thevehicle 642 or to a telematics control unit in the vehicle.

The traffic network 630 may include the traffic signaling network 632for operating traffic signals and a traffic management network 634 formanaging the traffic signaling network 632 as well as other componentsof the traffic network 630 including other V2X components.

The services network 620 may contain the logic for invoking services tosubscribers or users that may be owners or operators of vehicles. Thesesubscribers or users may have mobile and stationary devices 646including but not limited to mobile phones, tablets or in-vehiclecomputer systems that when utilized can distract the user when they aredriving the vehicle, such as video and audio systems or computerapplications on a mobile device or an in-vehicle head-unit. The servicesnetwork may contain the policy engine 622, which can be queried for whataction to take under a set of circumstances, such as when the user islocated in a moving vehicle 642, when the user is operating or drivingthe vehicle, when the user is operating the vehicle but it is not movingsuch as when the vehicle is stopped at a traffic light 645, when thevehicle 642 is stopped with the power systems or engine still turned on,or when the vehicle is stopped with the power systems or engine turnedoff, or when the user is not in the vehicle.

The mobile network 610 can be a cellular network, a WiFi network orother short or long range communications network typically used toenable fixed or mobile devices to be communicatively coupled with othernetworks including the public switched telephone network (PSTN), theInternet and/or private networks. The vehicle may operate on a publicright of way, which can be an interconnected network of roads on which avehicle can be driven and recognized by any one or more of thesub-systems of the system network 600.

In the network 600, the four entities 610, 620, 630 and 640 can all belocated separately and communicatively coupled via a public Internet ora private network, or instead can be co-located. For example, it ispossible for the services network 620 to be located separate from thetraffic network 630 and the mobile network 610, in a data centeroperated by a third party, such as an employer of a fleet of trucks,such as UPS or FEDEX, or an insurance carrier, or via a hosting agentthat enables subscribers to make use of the services and policies.Equally the services network 620 can be co-located with the trafficnetwork or the mobile network for some or all of the subscribers thatutilize the traffic network or the mobile network. Furthermore, thepolicy engine 622 itself can be entirely co-located within the servicesnetwork 620, or the policy engine 622 can be distributed such that allor part of the policy control functionality be located in a separatefacility, such as at an enterprise or an insurance carrier or via ahosting agent.

Mobile phones, tablets or other mobile devices 646 can be located in thevehicle while traveling along the public right of way network 640. Thesemobile devices can be communicatively connected with the mobile network610 using over-the-air communications technologies such as cellular orWiFi networks or other communications technologies based on radiofrequency, light emission or other technologies.

Similarly, an OBDII module 648 plugged into the OBDII port on thevehicle 642 can be communicatively coupled with the mobile network oralternatively can be communicatively coupled with a mobile device in thevehicle through a fixed or wired connection or via a communicationsprotocol such as WiFi or BLUETOOTH, enabling the OBDII device tointerface with the Internet 650 to connect with the services network 620and/or the traffic network 630. Alternatively, the OBDII device 648 canenable the mobile devices in the vehicle to be communicatively coupledwith the Internet 150 or PSTN where the OBDII device supports acommunications protocol such as WiFi or BLUETOOTH to connect with themobile devices 646.

An onboard telematics control unit (TCU) can also be communicativelycoupled with the mobile network 600 using a cellular, WiFi, satellite,light emission or other connection method, and enable in-vehicle mobiledevices to be communicatively coupled to the Internet 650 and/or PSTN.

Vehicles equipped with V2V communication technology 643 can listen forand share information with other vehicles including but not limited tothe vehicle's location at a particular time, direction of travel, speed,signal strength and/or intensity, vehicle characteristics, loadinformation, etc. V2V information 643 from surrounding vehicles and V2Pinformation 649 from surrounding pedestrians is captured and utilized toassess whether to activate or de-activate policies from the servicesnetwork 620 to selectively or completely limit or unrestrict access to adevice, such as devices 646 that can distract a driver.

A traffic light equipped with V2I communication technology 644 may becommunicatively coupled with traffic network 630 via the mobile network610 and the Internet 650. In this example, V2I information 644 from thetraffic network 630 can be utilized by the services network 620 toassess whether to activate or de-activate policies to selectively orcompletely limit or unrestrict access to a device that can distract adriver.

FIG. 6B illustrates an example of V2V communication between two or morevehicles according to example embodiments. Referring to FIG. 6B, theexample 660 provides for V2V communication 662 between two vehicles 652and 654 via short-range communication radio antennas. This type ofcommunication may be from one vehicle to another and may be transferredfrom one vehicle to many vehicles, which in turn share that informationwith other vehicles once the vehicles equipped with such communicationtechnology are in range of one another.

FIG. 6C illustrates an example of V2P communication between one or morepedestrians and one or more vehicles according to example embodiments.Referring to FIG. 6C, the example 680 provides for V2V communication 682between at least one pedestrian 672 and at least one vehicle 674 viashort-range communication radio antennas. This type of communication maybe from a pedestrian device to a vehicle and may be transferred from onevehicle to many vehicles, which in turn share that information withother vehicles once the vehicles equipped with such communicationtechnology are in range of one another. Similarly, this type ofcommunication may be from a vehicle to a pedestrian device and may betransferred from one pedestrian device to many pedestrian devices, whichin turn share that information with other pedestrian devices once thepedestrian devices equipped with such communication technology are inrange of one another.

FIG. 7 illustrates a V2V policy flow diagram 700 according to exampleembodiments. Referring to FIG. 7, the V2V data from surrounding vehicles712 is captured and stored in the form of a snapshot of data, which maybe a list of parameters in a file or other data format. The V2V data mayinclude the surrounding vehicles' location at a particular time,direction of travel, speed, signal strength and/or intensity, vehiclecharacteristics, load information, etc. A determination is made 714 asto whether no previous snapshot exists, and if no, then the new data isstored 718. Otherwise if there is a previously known data snapshot, thena timer is started 716. Additional V2V data received is added to thesnapshot in subsequent updates received according to a scheduled captureinterval, such as every 30 milliseconds or seconds, etc.

The snapshot is then assessed against a threshold 720 to determinewhether or not to invoke a restriction policy 724 on a distractingdevice (i.e., user device, in-vehicle entertainment device, etc.) thatmay be used or in the view of the driver of the vehicle. The thresholdmay include one or multiple variables from the snapshot data includingbut not limited to discrete or aggregate vehicle location at aparticular time, direction of travel, vehicle speed, signal strengthand/or intensity, vehicle characteristics, load information.

In the event that the threshold, as specified in the policy, has beenexceeded, for example, the aggregate intensity information combined withthe aggregate direction of travel information, collected from thesnapshot and suggesting that there is a high level of traffic nearby tothe vehicle in which the driver is operating the vehicle, and also wherethe traffic is traveling in the same or opposing direction, arestriction policy may be applied 724. The restriction policy may be oneof completely or partially restricting access to the device such thatall or selective features of the device are disabled or restricted fromuse by the driver, including all or selective aural or visual display ofnotifications. The determination as to whether to completely orpartially restrict access to the device may be based on information inthe snapshot such as intensity level and its relative strength comparedto a threshold intensity level, or it may be based on other factors suchas traffic data acquired from other sources such as GOOGLE traffic data,historical traffic data, weather conditions acquired at the vehicledevice itself or from a weather station communicating to any device incommunication with the vehicle, equipment to assess medical conditionsof the driver, such as vital sign information, heart rate, alertnessand/or eye focus, and/or time-of-day/day-of-week/holiday schedule, etc.

If sufficient time has passed since the timer was started and a timerthreshold has been exceeded 730, where the amount of V2V data collectedremains or has fallen below a threshold, for example, in the case wherethere is no longer any traffic detected on the road, then the snapshotis discarded, the timer is reset 732 and the restriction policy can thenbe removed 734. Any new V2V data received by the vehicle determinationsystem will result in a new snapshot being created.

FIG. 8 illustrates a V2I policy flow diagram 800 according to exampleembodiments. V2I data from a surrounding information sharinginfrastructure may be captured and provided for vehicle processingpurposes 812. The V2I data may include, but is not limited, to signaling(e.g., traffic light, speed limit, exit signage, etc.), constructionzone data, road hazard data, toll data, traffic data, concession data,petrol or fuel data, charging station and/or weather information, etc.

In operation, if the vehicle is determined to be in motion 814 then theexisting policy state is maintained and the system continues to monitorfor V2X including V2I data. If the vehicle is determined to be stoppedor below a specific speed threshold, then the system application checksto determine whether it has received V2I data from a nearby trafficsignal, such as time-to-green data (TTG) indicating the remaining timeuntil the traffic signal will change from red to green, after which thedriver is permitted to accelerate, and at which point the distractingdevice(s) will be put into a restriction mode based on the policies forthe driver. The policies can be the same for all drivers or can bedifferent for each individual driver.

The system will then assess if there is sufficient time remaining forthe driver to be permitted to access the distracting user device(s) 816.There may be different levels of unblock policies that may be based onfactors such as TTG. In the example of FIG. 8, three different levelsare shown including selective unblock, full unblock and selectivedisplay. The minimum time figures for these levels are denoted asminimum-time-selective-unblock (MTSU), minimum-time-full-unblock (MTFU),and minimum-time-selective-display (MTSD).

In the event that the TTG is greater than MTFU then the system may applythe full unblock policy 818 providing the driver with full access to thedistracting device(s). Once the full unblock policy has been set, thesystem application checks if the TTG has expired. If the TTG has notexpired, the system application continues to monitor the TTG. If the TTGhas expired, the system application may display a warning 830 to theuser indicating that the traffic light is going to change to green in aspecific amount of time, for example in 10 seconds, or that the trafficlight is changing to green now or that the traffic light has justchanged to green. Note that the system application can also be set toprovide the warning in advance of the light changing to green such as afive, ten or fifteen second advance notice. Once the timer has expiredthe block device policy is activated in order to apply the blockingpolicy to the distracting device(s). The block device policy can also beset to activate before the TTG expires and/or before the traffic lightturns to green. For example, the system application can be set toprovide a warning to the driver when TTG is at 15 seconds and then applythe block device policy when the TTG is at 5 seconds. In anotherexample, it is possible for the system application to have atime-to-block (TTB) timer that may be set to the TTG plus a margin suchas five or ten seconds where the driver is supplied with a warning basedon the TTB instead of the TTG and/or where the block device policy isapplied based on the TTB instead of the TTG. Using the TTB instead ofthe TTG provides a buffer of time between the time the device is blockedand the traffic light changes to green enabling the driver to resumephysical and mental controls such that they are ready to be in controlof the vehicle when the light has changed to green. The definition ofthe block device policy may be based on a single policy for allsubscribers or users of the system application or may be specific to anindividual driver. The system application then proceeds to monitor forincoming V2X including V2I data. If the TTG is not greater than the MTFBthen the system application proceeds with the next check.

If the TTG is greater than MTSB then the system may determine that thereis time for a selective display 822 and display selective information824 by applying a partial or selective unblock policy 826 providing thedriver with selective access to the distracting device(s). Partialunblock may enable the driver access to certain features and/orfunctions of the distracting device(s) while restricting other featuresand/or functions. For example, the driver may be given access to changenavigation routing instructions, change a music station from a musicapplication or view but not respond to a list of messages. Thedefinition of the selective block policy may be based on a single policyfor all subscribers or users of the system or may be specific to anindividual driver. If TTG has expired 828, the system may display awarning 830 to the user indicating that the traffic light is going tochange to green in a specific amount of time, for example in 10 seconds,or that the traffic light is changing to green now or that the trafficlight has just changed to green. Note that the system applicationfunctions can also be set to provide the warning in advance of thetraffic light changing to green, such as a five, ten or fifteen secondadvance notice. Once the timer has expired the block device policy 832is activated in order to apply the blocking policy to the distractingdevice(s). The block device policy can also be set to activate beforethe TTG expires and/or before the traffic light turns to green. Forexample, the system application can be set to provide a warning to thedriver when TTG is at 15 seconds and then apply the block device policywhen the TTG is at 5 seconds. In another example, it is possible for thesystem application to have a time-to-block (TTB) counter timer that maybe set to TTG plus a margin such as five or ten seconds where the driveris supplied with a warning based on the TTB instead of the TTG and/orwhere the block device policy is applied based on the TTB instead of theTTG. Using the TTB parameter instead of the TTG parameter provides abuffer of time between the time the device is blocked and the trafficlight changes to green enabling the driver to resume physical and mentalcontrols such that they are ready to be in control of the vehicle whenthe light has changed to green. The definition of the block devicepolicy may be based on a single policy for all subscribers or users ofthe system application, or may be specific to an individual driver. Thesystem application then proceeds to monitor for incoming V2X includingV2I data. If the TTG is not greater than the MTSB then the systemproceeds with the next check.

If the TTG is greater than the MTSD then the system application mayapply the selective display policy providing the driver a selective viewof information on the distracting device(s). Selective display mayenable the driver to view certain features and/or functions of thedistracting device(s) while restricting the ability to access thefeatures and/or functions otherwise provided by the user device. Forexample, the driver may be provided with a list of messages that havebeen received since the last time they accessed the device and the listmay contain all or only partial information from the message, such asonly messages marked with a status of ‘urgent’, the sending party andthe subject line, in the case of an e-mail, the sending party and thefirst line of characters from a text message or social media message,the calling party name or number of any calls that came in with anindication of whether a message was left, the title of the currentand/or upcoming song that is being played, etc. These examples ofselective display information can enable the driver to make a decisionas to whether they need to pull over and stop the vehicle in a safelocation in order to be provided access to the full information andaccess the features and functions of the device necessary to respond ortake other actions. The definition of the selective display policy maybe based on a single policy for all subscribers or users of the systemapplication or may be specific to an individual driver. If the TTG hasexpired 828, the system may display a warning to the user 830 indicatingthat the traffic light is going to change to green in a specific amountof time, for example in 10 seconds, or that the traffic light ischanging to green now or that the traffic light has just changed togreen. Note that the system application can also be set to provide thewarning in advance of the light changing to green such as a five, ten orfifteen second advance notice. Once the timer has expired the blockdevice policy 832 is activated in order to apply the blocking policy tothe distracting device(s). The block device policy can also be set toactivate before the TTG expires and/or before the traffic light turns togreen. For example, the system application can be set to provide awarning to the driver when the TTG is at 15 seconds and then apply theblock device policy when the TTG is at 5 seconds.

In another example, it is possible for the system application to have aTTB timer that may be set to the TTG plus a margin such as five or tenseconds where the driver is supplied with a warning based on the TTBinstead of just the TTG and/or where the block device policy is appliedbased on the TTB instead of the TTG. Using the TTB instead of the TTGprovides a buffer of time between the time the device is blocked and thetraffic light changes to green enabling the driver to resume physicaland mental controls such that they are ready to be in control of thevehicle when the light has changed to green. The definition of the blockdevice policy may be based on a single policy for all subscribers orusers of the system application or may be specific to an individualdriver. The system application then proceeds to monitor for incoming V2Xincluding V2I data. If the TTG is not greater than the MTSB then thesystem maintains the state of the policy and continues to monitor forV2X including V2I data.

If V2I data has been received from a nearby traffic signal but thevehicle is not in a location where the traffic light is applicable thenthe policy may not be imposed. For example, if the vehicle is stopped onthe side of the road near a traffic signal but not in line behind thestop line of the traffic signal, or the vehicle is located beyond thetraffic signal, the system may elect not to impose a restriction policy.

FIG. 9A illustrates an example method of operation 900 using vehicleinformation according to example embodiments. According to one examplemethod of operation, a vehicle may receive V2V information and makedeterminations via a processing device associated with the vehicle. Thismethod may provide receiving V2V information at a device disposed in avehicle in motion operated by a driver 912, and processing the V2Vinformation received with previously received V2V information 914. Themethod may also include determining the V2V information received hasexceeded a threshold based on a comparison between the received V2Vinformation and the previously received V2V information 916, andresponsive to determining the V2V information has exceeded thethreshold, applying a restriction policy on at least one user devicelocated inside the vehicle 918. The new V2V information may indicate anincrease in traffic, speed, etc., that the previously known V2Vinformation did not indicate, which may cause a change in policy. Thedevice is different from at least one user device. For example, thedevice may be a vehicle device as part of the vehicle. The vehicledevice may also be the same as the user device.

FIG. 9B illustrates an example method of operation 920 using vehicleinformation according to example embodiments. In another exampleembodiment, a method may provide determining a vehicle is approaching avehicle movement restriction location requiring a vehicle movementrestriction 922, such as a traffic light or construction zone, anddetermining an amount of time associated with the vehicle movementrestriction 924, and determining whether a device located inside thevehicle will be made accessible to a user during the vehicle movementrestriction based on the amount of time associated with the vehiclemovement restriction 926. A decision may be made based on knownparameters, known rules and applied logic to restrict the user deviceusage completely, partially and/or for a fixed period of time. Thetraffic restriction location may include a construction zone, a trafficlight, a school zone, a designated low speed environment and adesignated danger zone. The method may also include determining thevehicle is approaching the vehicle movement restriction location bydetermining a vehicle position via a global positioning system (GPS)location determination and/or a proximity between the traffic light andthe vehicle. The method may also provide determining the amount of timeis above a threshold amount of time, and responsive to determining theamount of time is above the threshold amount of time, providing limitedaccess to the user device, determining the amount of time is above athreshold amount of time, and responsive to determining the amount oftime is below the threshold amount of time, providing no access to theuser device. The limited access to the user device includes at least oneof a limited time window to receive and access communication messagesincluding at least one of e-mail messages, short message servicemessages, multimedia message service, social media, vehicle infotainmentor system and device application messages. The method may also includedetermining the vehicle movement restriction location comprises a knowndangerous condition, and responsive to identifying the known dangerouscondition, providing limited access to the device. The method may alsoinclude determining the vehicle movement restriction location comprisesa known dangerous condition, and responsive to identifying the knowndangerous condition, providing alert messages to the device.

FIG. 9C illustrates an example method 940 of operation using vehicleinformation according to example embodiments. Another example embodimentmay provide a method that includes determining a vehicle is moving on aroadway 942, receiving V2V information at a vehicle device, locatedinside the vehicle, from a plurality of other vehicles moving on atleast one of the roadway and an adjacent roadway 944, determining amagnitude of traffic on at least one of the roadway and the adjacentroadway is exceeding a traffic threshold 946, and restricting a userdevice located inside the vehicle during the vehicle movement responsiveto the magnitude of traffic exceeding the traffic threshold 948.

FIG. 9D illustrates an example method of operation 960 using vehicleinformation according to example embodiments. Still another exampleembodiment may include a method that provides determining a vehicle ismoving on a roadway 962, receiving V2I information at a vehicle device,located inside the vehicle 964, determining a vehicle is approaching avehicle movement restriction location requiring a vehicle movementrestriction 966, determining an estimated restriction time windowassociated with the vehicle movement restriction location 968, comparingthe estimated restriction time window to a plurality of restrictionthreshold levels 972, determining the restriction time window exceedsone of the restriction threshold levels and does not exceed one other ofthe restriction threshold levels, and partially restricting usage of auser device located inside the vehicle for at least a portion of therestriction time window. The method may also include determining whethera driver profile associated with the driver imposes additionalrestrictions, and when the driver profile imposes additionalrestrictions, further restricting the partially restricted usage of theuser device. Also, the further restricting the partially restrictedusage of the user device further includes restricting device usage toonly one of multiple devices available to the user in the vehicle andrestricting the usage to one or more predefined functions comprisingnavigation applications, emergency services notifications and emergencycalling.

FIG. 9E illustrates an example method of operation 980 using vehicleinformation according to example embodiments. Still another exampleembodiment may include a method that includes receiving V2V informationat a vehicle device disposed in a vehicle in motion operated by a driver982, wherein the V2V information is received from one or more of aplurality of other vehicles within a predefined distance of the vehicle,processing the V2V information received 984, determining the V2Vinformation received indicates a plurality of alerts associated with theplurality of other vehicles 986, applying a restriction policy to atleast one user device located inside the vehicle based on the pluralityof alerts 988. The plurality of alerts include at least one of athreshold amount of vehicle traffic identified by one or more of theplurality of other vehicles, a construction site identified by one ormore of the plurality of other vehicles, and an emergency conditionidentifying by one or more of the plurality of other vehicles.

FIG. 9F illustrates still yet a further example method of operation 990using vehicle information and/or pedestrian information according toexample embodiments. Still another example embodiment may include amethod that includes receiving V2P information at a vehicle devicedisposed in a vehicle in motion operated by a driver 992, wherein theV2P information is received from one or more of a plurality ofpedestrian devices within a predefined distance of the vehicle,processing the V2P information received 994, determining the V2Pinformation received indicates an updated pedestrian safety conditionassociated with the one or more of the plurality of pedestrians 996, andapplying a restriction policy to at least one device located inside thevehicle based on the updated pedestrian safety condition 998. Theupdated pedestrian safety condition may include at least one of a recentpedestrian appearance, such as a non-vehicle based pedestrian thatrecently entered an intersection associated with the vehicle deviceposition. The pedestrian may be on foot, bicycle, motor-wheeled vehicle,and/or may have one or more identified safety concerns, such asblindness, deafness, exceeded or below safe age threshold (i.e., above70 or below 13 years old), wheelchair usage, mental incapacity, etc. Thefact that the pedestrian is present may be accentuated by the additionalsafety concerns, which may be enough of a scored condition to cause thevehicle device to be alerted, restricted, etc.

While preferred embodiments of the present invention have beendescribed, it is to be understood that the embodiments described areillustrative only and the scope of the invention is to be defined solelyby the appended claims when considered with a full range of equivalentsand modifications (e.g., protocols, hardware devices, software platformsetc.) thereto.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method, comprising: identifying an amount oftime associated with a movement restriction of a vehicle based on alocation of the vehicle; identifying that the amount of time is above orbelow a threshold period of time; and determining whether a devicelocated inside the vehicle will be made accessible to a user based onwhether the amount of time is above or below the threshold period oftime; responsive to the amount of time being above the threshold periodof time, limiting access to the user device.
 2. The method of claim 1,wherein the vehicle movement restriction location comprises one or moreof: a construction zone, a traffic light, a school zone, a designatedlow speed environment and a designated danger zone.
 3. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the identifying the amount of time comprises:identifying a vehicle position via a global positioning system (GPS)location.
 4. The method of claim 1, further comprising: determining theamount of time is below the threshold period of time; and responsive todetermining the amount of time is below the threshold period of time,denying access to the user device.
 5. The method of claim 1, wherein thelimiting access to the user device comprises limiting a time window toreceive and access communication messages comprising at least one of:e-mail messages, short message service messages, a multimedia messageservice, social media, a vehicle infotainment or system messages, anddevice application messages.
 6. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising: determining that the location is associated with a knowndangerous condition; and responsive to identifying the known dangerouscondition, limiting access to the device.
 7. The method of claim 1,further comprising: determining that the location is associated with aknown dangerous condition; and responsive to identifying the knowndangerous condition, providing alert messages to the device.
 8. Anapparatus, comprising: a processor configured to: identify an amount oftime associated with a movement restriction of a vehicle based on alocation of the vehicle; identify that the amount of time is above orbelow a threshold period of time; and determine whether a device locatedinside the vehicle will be made accessible to a user based on whetherthe amount of time is above or below the threshold period of time;responsive to the amount of time being above the threshold period oftime, limit access to the user device.
 9. The apparatus of claim 8,wherein the vehicle movement restriction location comprises one or moreof: a construction zone, a traffic light, a school zone, a designatedlow speed environment, and a designated danger zone.
 10. The apparatusof claim 9, wherein, when the processor is configured to identifying theamount of time, the processor is further configured to: identify avehicle position via a global positioning system (GPS) location.
 11. Theapparatus of claim 8, wherein the processor is further configured to:determine the amount of time is below the threshold period of time; andresponsive to determining the amount of time is below the thresholdperiod of time, deny access to the user device.
 12. The apparatus ofclaim 11, wherein, when the processor is configured to limit access tothe user device, the processor is further configured to limit access toat least one of: e-mail messages, short message service messages, amultimedia message service, social media, a vehicle infotainment orsystem messages, and device application messages.
 13. The apparatus ofclaim 8, wherein the processor is further configured to: determine thatthe location is associated with a known dangerous condition; andresponsive to identifying the known dangerous condition, limit access tothe device.
 14. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the processor isfurther configured to: determine that the location is associated with aknown dangerous condition; and responsive to identifying the knowndangerous condition, to provide alert messages to the device.
 15. Anon-transitory computer readable storage medium storing instructionsthat when executed by a processor configure the processor to perform:identifying an amount of time associated with a movement restriction ofa vehicle based on a location of the vehicle; identifying that theamount of time is above or below a threshold period of time; anddetermining whether a device located inside the vehicle will be madeaccessible to a user based on whether the amount of time is above orbelow the threshold period of time responsive to the amount of timebeing above the threshold period of time, limiting access to the userdevice.
 16. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim15, wherein the vehicle movement restriction location comprises one ormore of: a construction zone, a traffic light, a school zone, adesignated low speed environment, and a designated danger zone.
 17. Thenon-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein theinstructions further configure the processor to perform: identifying avehicle position via a global positioning system (GPS) location.
 18. Thenon-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein theinstructions further configure the processor to perform: determine theamount of time is above the threshold period of time; and responsive todetermining the amount of time is above the threshold period of time,limiting access to the user device, wherein the limiting access to theuser device comprises limiting a time window to receive and accesscommunication messages comprising at least one of: e-mail messages,short message service messages, a multimedia message service, socialmedia, a vehicle infotainment or system messages, and device applicationmessages.